SINGAPORE (Singapore) - Real Madrid won it five times, La Laguna Tenerife a further three, with Barcelona and Hereda San Pablo Burgos adding one apiece to the tally. That's 10 FIBA Intercontinental Cup wins for Spanish teams, and it could become 11 as Unicaja arrive in Singapore with a rock solid crew.
The Basketball Champions League Europe winners kept their roster together from last season, even improving it with a few new faces in the locker room to make another push for national and international glory.
The team from Malaga won the Spanish Copa del Rey and the BCL Europe across the past two seasons. Now, they have a chance to add two more trophies to their lockers in September, as they have the Intercontinental Cup and the Spanish Supercopa coming up.
Who are they?
One of Europe's biggest teams, Unicaja were founded as Caja de Ronda 47 years ago. They became Unicaja in 1992, creating plenty of memories at the Pabellon Ciudad Jardin until their green and purple fan base grew so big they had to move to the 11,300-capacity Palacio de Deportes Jose Maria Martin Carpena.
A new, bigger arena meant there is more room for trophies, so Unicaja started collecting them by winning the FIBA Korac Cup in 2001, claiming the Spanish League in 2006, winning the Spanish Cup in 2005 and 2023, with two other international trophies, the EuroCup in 2017 and the BCL in 2024.
Their recent success is based on two pillars: longevity and stability. Coach Ibon Navarro created a long term plan, and it's working to perfection, his players building chemistry and feeding off of each other both on and off the court.
Most of the roster is headed to their third consecutive season in Malaga, while club captain Alberto Diaz is entering his 12th season with the team. Still, he's only 30 years old.
How did they get here?
Unicaja won the BCL Europe, starting with a 4-2 record in Group A, winning the group and moving straight to the Round of 16.
They did not slow down for a second there, sweeping Group I with a 6-0 record, finishing an incredible four wins clear of the rest of the group, earning the higher seed in the Quarter-Finals draw.
They had no issues there either, defeating Promitheas from Greece 2-0, booking a trip to the Belgrade Final Four.
Two more wins over fellow Spaniards followed, beating UCAM Murcia in the Semi-Finals, and La Laguna Tenerife in the Final with a nearly identical score (80-74, 80-75), to lift their first BCL title.
Winning the BCL Europe is usually a good omen. The BCL champions have won five of the last seven FIBA Intercontinental Cup events.
Why should we watch them?
Pure team-first basketball. Unicaja are the kind of club which puts emphasis on sharing the ball and spreading the minutes, with a lot of their games seeing all 12 guys getting time on the floor, and you'd rarely see anybody play more than 30 minutes.
Their physicality on defense is what brings them long term success across the season, but their fast flowing offense can get the job done in a single game any time of the day.
Everybody has the green light to fire at will, which is the kind of basketball Kendrick Perry and Tyson Carter enjoy the most. The backcourt tandem picked up the last two major MVP awards for Unicaja, Perry being named the BCL Final Four MVP, while Carter won Spanish Copa del Rey MVP honors in 2023.
Both of their point guards, Perry and Diaz, can pressure the ball full court. Carter shares the shooting guard minutes with a shooting specialist in Tyler Kalinoski and a jack of all trades in Nihad Dedovic.
The forward minutes will be shared by Kameron Taylor, another player capable of scoring in the 20s, with Canada's Olympian Melvin Ejim right next to him to help out with his experience and athleticism.
Jonathatn Barreiro is a catch and shoot option on the wing, Dylan Osetkowski is one of the best power forwards in all of Europe at the moment, while newcomers Killian Tillie, Tyson Perez and Aleksander Balcerowski can use this event to find their roles within the team.
They also have two completely different centers. Yankuba Sima is the vertical option, alley-oop receiver, while David Kravish is more of an old-school pick-and-pop guy with elite touch.
Overall, coach Ibon Navarro has an orchestra capable of winning the FIBA Intercontinental Cup, the Spanish Supercup, the Spanish Cup, the Spanish League and the BCL Europe.
Simply being a legit contender in all those competitions speaks volumes of the job Unicaja's front office has done over the past three years.
Who will they play in Singapore?
The Spaniards open up their account with a game against the BAL champs, Petro de Luanda from Angola, on September 12. A day later, they take on fellow BCL winners Al Riyadi, who claimed the title in Asia last season.
If they win the group, they will play the Final on September 15. If they finish second, they move to the Third-Place Game. If they end the group stage behind both Petro de Luanda and Al Riyadi, they will be in the battle for fifth place on the final day of action.