Barcelona sealed the NBA to return to the final Sports

Higgins and Mirotec celebrate with a basket against Armani Milan in the semi-finals of the Euroleague in Cologne.THILO SCHMUELGEN / Reuters

Barcelona will be crowned with a long journey when they take the stage in which they have not interfered since their second Euroleague victory in 2010. The Barcelona team faces the final against Turkish Anadolu Efes this Sunday at Lanxess in Cologne (20.30, DAZN), confirming the ambitious change in policy they made with the surprise signature With Mirotic in July 2019. The arrival of the 30-year-old striker in Palau reflected the sense of the influx of Barcelona’s leading players. The trend towards US immigration has continued this season with the other teams. Campazzo (Denver), Dick (Oklahoma City), Feldoza (Knicks) and Mike James (Brooklyn) started the campaign in Europe and are now competing there.

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Barcelona managers with only deficit and compensation for the collection of some economic clauses – “insufficient and unsatisfactory”, they assert – have seen how players such as Ricky Rubio, Saturnski, Abriens, Hizonga, Corrox … and possibly Bulmaro, who is 20 years old, left , Joins Minnesota soon. “We have to protect ourselves so that those players who go to the NBA when they return to Europe can return to Barcelona. We have to find a protective framework with the Euroleague,” Albert Soler, Barcelona divisional manager, confirmed already in 2016.

The arrival of Meerotic was a blow of audacity. In his case, his will was combined with a good financial offer, although he is far from the $ 45 million three-year sum that Utah Jazz had given him. His arrival, from Milwaukee, coincided with the return of Abrines from Oklahoma City and the signing of Higgins, who, before winning the Euroleague with CSKA, played two seasons in the NBA, until his father, the sporting director of Charlotte, abandoned him in 2013.

Paw Gasol, after Tony Kocock’s record

Pau Gasol, just over a month after his 41st birthday and after returning in April after more than two years of inactivity due to a foot injury, faces an unprecedented final for him. “Every challenge in my career was different. This is, without a doubt, very special,” he says. If he wins the Euroleague, he will face Croatian Tony Kucuk, the only player to have won the World Cup, European Basketball Championships, NBA and Euroleague. “I don’t have a lot of games left after this long career,” says Gasol. “I want to enjoy myself and do my best.”

Seven players from the team led by Saras Jacekievicius played in the NBA, including those who were in the primary team in the semi-final against Milan. Greek goalkeeper Kalathis played for Memphis for two seasons, until 2015. In addition to Higgins, Abriens and Mirotec, Davis also competed in the MLS for a season and a half with the Sixers and Brooklyn in 2015. To these we should add Claver, Portland’s player from 2012 to 2015, and Pau Gasol. , Who returned in April after winning and won two episodes in the 20 seasons he played in the United States.

Many players returning from the NBA have successfully lead or play related roles in European teams. Real Madrid ratified him when he signed with Ion from Atlanta in 2014, after the Mexican reached an agreement with Barcelona, who had his rights in Europe. His commitment to Argentine Nocioni also paid off after he finished his American tenure with the Sixers in 2021. The same success was the return of Eddie Tavares, central Cape Verde, in 2017, after passing through Atlanta and Cleveland. Sergio Rodriguez, after his two spells in the NBA, won with Real Madrid, then with CSKA and now continues at a high level with Milan. Mirotec explains that in the US his credit as a player was more limited than in Europe: “I didn’t feel like taking advantage of that very well.

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