On September 15, after pulling off the move with remarkable discretion and without a single leak in the days leading up to it, Valencia Basket completed its roster with the addition of Nikola Mirotic. A video of the Spanish international already at the Manises airport was the first indication of a signing that came just four days before the team from the east coast of Spain took part in the Endesa Super Cup. At 35, and after a difficult end to last season at Monaco —first because of a plantar fascia injury in his foot, and later amid the club’s enormous financial problems, which eventually led to its expulsion from the EuroLeague and even from French professional basketball— the signing of the power forward, while certainly surprising, did not generate the media impact it might have received a few years earlier.
Mirotic was returning to Spain, the country where he has spent the bulk of his career. He came through the Real Madrid system and played for the first team from 2010 to 2014 —after spending the 2009-10 season on loan at Palencia in LEB Oro— before returning from the NBA to spend four more seasons at Barça, from 2019 to 2023. Now, after two seasons in Milan and the aforementioned campaign in Monaco, his arrival in Valencia came as a surprise, both because of how unexpected it was and, perhaps more importantly, how late it came. It was unusual to see a player of Mirotic’s stature still without a team just days before the start of the official season. Even more so in Spain, where he qualifies as a Local Developed Player, allowing him to be registered as a domestic player in the Liga Endesa after spending more than three seasons in the country during his formative years.
Habemus 4 🧡 https://t.co/4cXTxOjaEk
— Valencia Basket Club (@valenciabasket) September 15, 2026
Mirotic’s debut in orange had to wait. He did not play in the Super Cup semifinal, when his new team fell to Barça by a narrow 87-86 margin. His first appearance would come in the EuroLeague opener at Besiktas, where the talented power forward helped Valencia to their first win of the season, a 94-96 victory, with a clear indication that he was ready to contribute from day one: 13 points in 13 minutes.
That is precisely where Valencia Basket may have found the perfect Plan B for the frenetic style of basketball it played under Pedro Martínez over the past two seasons —a style Xavi Albert now wants to maintain following his predecessor’s move to Real Madrid—. Mirotic can certainly run the floor when required, but he is also the ideal complement when the game needs to slow down a notch. He can punish opponents from the low post, where he has been a threat for years thanks to his ability to seal his defender, score or draw fouls. He is also as reliable as they come from the free-throw line: he has made 15 of 16 attempts in the EuroLeague this season, good for 93.8%.
And, of course, his well-established threat from beyond the arc remains very much alive. Mirotic is shooting 46.7% from three in the EuroLeague, having knocked down seven of his 15 attempts. That makes him an important piece of the most efficient three-point shooting team in the competition so far. Valencia are shooting a spectacular 45% from beyond the 6.75-meter line through their first three games, all of them wins.
From that debut in Istanbul onward, Nikola Mirotic has made it clear that he did not come to Valencia in search of a cushy retirement. On a team where TJ Shorts is the undisputed offensive leader, the Podgorica native has emerged, alongside Kameron Taylor, as Albert’s second offensive weapon. So far in the EuroLeague, he is averaging 16 points, 3 rebounds and 19.3 PIR in just 16 minutes per game. In the Liga Endesa, where Valencia enter the season as defending champions, he has already played two games, averaging 15.5 points and 5 rebounds, although his three-point shooting has been somewhat less efficient at 30%.
With the benefit of hindsight, Mirotic’s fit in Valencia looks ideal. Valencia needed exactly the kind of player he is for those moments when the game cannot be played at full speed. And at this stage of his career, Mirotic needs exactly what he has found: a team where he does not have to be the primary offensive option, allowing him to continue showing, in a somewhat more complementary role, that he remains one of the most productive players on the continent.
Just in a different role.
