Basket rumors

The decision has been made: Joan Peñarroya will be Barcelona’s new coach, replacing Roger Grimau. Negotiations with the Terrassa-born coach are at an advanced stage and the Catalan club expects to officially announce his appointment within this week.

Peñarroya, 55, was not Barça’s first choice, who had initially considered Xavi Pascual and Jaka Lakovic. However, the combination of decades of experience in the ACB, a European title (Champions League 2021 with Burgos), and recent Euroleague knowledge tipped the scales in his favour. In addition, the fact that he is Catalan further strengthened his candidature.

Peñarroya will sign a two-year contract with Barça. His salary will be lower than that of his predecessors, allowing the club to allocate more of its budget to necessary team adjustments.

Source: Mundo Deportivo

According to ElCorreo, Baskonia is eyeing Alen Smailagic to improve the frontcourt, and has reportedly already submitted an offer to the 23-year-old Serbian center.

Smailagic is coming from a three-year stint with Partizan (5.6 points and 2.3 rebounds per game between Euroleague and Aba Liga this year), and the Serbian team would not be willing to confirm him.

Baskonia in recent days announced the arrivals of Luwawu-Cabarrot and Baldwin.

Chus Mateo will remain on the Real Madrid bench for another two seasons. This was reported by AS, which thus ends a 12-month long telenovela, given that the Spanish coach had started the season as a EuroLeague winner, but expires at the end of June.

Agreement until 2026 then. Chus Mateo, who became head coach in 2022, won his second ACB, the first permanently in the role. In this year he also won the Supercopa and Copa del Rey.

Mario Hezonja, to Movistar+, confirms his desire to stay in Madrid: ‘I won’t talk about three titles, I would like to have more. That’s how I am, I am always a perfectionist. This year we only lost one game in which we played badly, and we lost a title. I am very sorry for that, but I would like to give something back to our people, to my club, to Real Madrid… In the coming years I would like to give back many more titles. I hope this will happen.”

“That’s why they brought me here. We talked about the fact that we needed people like this and I feel really comfortable, I feel like they are my family. They welcomed me with open arms when many were talking about things that were not true. I would like to repay that with more years here and more titles for my team.”

Following Real Madrid’s win in Game 1 of the ACB Finals against UCAM Murcia, Croatian forward Mario Hezonja addressed his future with the team, dispelling rumors about a potential contract extension.

In an interview with Alberto Pereiro for ONDA Cero’s Radioestadio, Hezonja stated that no agreement has been reached: “It’s a lie. We are trying to reach an agreement, but now is not the time to talk about that,” he said.

Hezonja’s contract is set to expire at the end of June, and he will need to finalize his decision after the series against UCAM Murcia, whether to remain in Madrid or move elsewhere. He joined Real Madrid in the summer of 2022 and won the EuroLeague in his first season with Chus Mateo’s team. This year, he averaged 13.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in the EuroLeague, establishing himself as one of the top forwards in the competition and earning a spot on the All-EuroLeague Second Team.

Hezonja niega en @Radioestadio que haya renovado con el Madrid https://t.co/VItC6HUtQC

— Alberto Pereiro (@AlbertoPereiro) June 8, 2024

FONTE: Eurohoops

Valencia is undergoing a major roster rebuild despite not being assured of playing in the upcoming Euroleague.

Among the players on the club’s notebook is Azuolas Tubelis, a 22-year-old forward out of Arizona who won the MVP of the Lithuanian league this year thanks to the over 17 points and 7 rebounds per game he produced for Neptunas. The news was reported by Tolis Kotzias.

According to Deportes COPE Valencia – Valencia for the frontcourt is also following Neal Sako, a 25-year-old center with 11.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game between BetClic Elite and BCL with the Cholet jersey.

In recent days the Spanish club announced the departures of Inglis and Robertson.

Mario Hezonja and Real Madrid are very close to an agreement, according to a report by Spanish journalist Ramon Alvarez de Mon.

The Croatian forward before the Final Four had expressed his desire to continue defending the Blancos’ colors.

Hezonja and Real Madrid from Saturday, June 8, will compete in the Endesa League Finals against the surprising Murcia.

🚨 La negociación entre el Real Madrid y Hezonja está muy cerca de concretarse positivamente. Mario está muy cerca de seguir en el Madrid, aunque aún no está 100% cerrado. pic.twitter.com/Ne7LMTgO9x

— Ramón Álvarez de Mon (@Ramon_AlvarezMM) June 6, 2024

Real Madrid, seeing problems in the talks with Lorenzo Brown, has decided to focus on Dominican Andres Feliz to strengthen the backcourt.

The Blancos will pay 500,000 euros to get the point guard out of his contract with Joventut Badalona.

Feliz, who will sign a 2+1 deal, has produced averages of 14.8 points (49% FG, 34% 3P, 79% FT), 4.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game this year between ACB and Eurocup.

The news was reported by some Spanish media, including Encestando.