Hegemony versus revolution. Real Madrid, champion of the Endesa League and the Cup, also second in the last Euroleague, is strengthening itself to maintain its rule, while Barcelona, which came up empty last season – something that had not happened in four years – intends to keep up with its arch-rival. To do so, now in transfer window time, they are strengthening their teams. The last two to arrive: center Serge Ibaka (Brazzaville, Congo; 34 years old) will wear white and point guard Juan Núñez (Madrid; 20 years old) will wear blue and red.
Barcelona has added several pieces to complete its puzzle, so as not to suffer a fiasco like last season. The last to arrive is Juan Núñez, a player with whom they had already reached an agreement a long time ago while waiting to know the final decision of the point guard, as they wanted to know where he was after the draft of the NBA. He was selected in 36th place by the Indiana Pacers, even though his rights were ultimately traded to the San Antonio Spurs. After evaluating his options, Núñez, who was trained in the Madrid youth academy —who had the player’s sporting rights— and who is a regular with the Spanish national team —he was part of the team that was granted safe passage to the Olympic Games—, sealed his contract with the Blaugrana until 2027.
An intelligent point guard who can read the lines and link up with his teammates, as well as possessing great ball handling skills, Núñez occupies the point guard position that he will share with Satoransky, since the club has already announced the departure of Jokubaitis (Maccabi Tel Aviv) and Ricky Rubio is not expected to continue with the blue and red, closer to Joventut. Núñez played 15 games with Madrid two years ago to make the jump to Ratiopharm Ulm in Germany last season, a starter by definition with suggestive numbers: 9.6 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.7 per game that led the team to be proclaimed champion of the German league for the first time in its history. Before Núñez, coach Peñarroya arrived (replacing Grimau), shooting guard Kevin Punter (Partizán) and forward Justin Anderson (Valencia Basket).
On the other hand, although it was not a decision of their liking, Real Madrid accepted Poirier’s departure to Anadolu Efes because the center wanted more prominence, always in the shadow of Tavares. Few players with his talent and points in his hands, also sovereignty in the area, worked as well as Poirier, a luxury substitute. So his departure was a headache for Chus Mateo’s team, who has finally found a solution. That is Ibaka, who in his early days played for CB L’Hospitalet and Manresa —springboard to go to the NBA— and who already spent a few months in Madrid in 2011, when the North American league closed for the lockout [cierre patronal] until he returned to the United States.
Winner of a ring with the Raptors (2019) alongside Marc Gasol, the Spanish-Congolese Ibaka stands out for his powerful inside game and his defensive intensity under the rim —as well as for his remarkable three-point shot, which allows him to play as a 4—, even though he is no longer in one of his best versions. But his relationship with the basket is not spoiled (12.6 points and 6.8 rebounds this season in Laso’s Bayern, where he won the Cup). After playing from 2008 to 2023 in the NBA —Oklahoma City Thunder, Orlando Magic, Toronto Raptors, Los Angeles Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks—, he was cut by the Indiana Pacers, who owned his rights but with whom he did not play, and he returned to Europe, to Germany. He now returns to Madrid to explain that after Tavares the team has a lot of centimetres (2.08 metres) and points, something that the other signings of the season also hope to contribute: the Dominican but community point guard Andrés Feliz, who comes from Joventut de Badalona to relieve Sergio Rodríguez (retired) and Carlos Alocén (out); and the shooting guard Xavier Rathan-Mayes, from Enisey Krasnoyarsk.
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