It has been anything but a quiet summer in the Valencia Basket offices. Despite just putting together the best season in the club’s history —winning both the Liga Endesa and the Spanish Super Cup, while reaching the EuroLeague Final Four for the first time ever— the earthquake hit the ‘Taronja’ club almost immediately in the form of a massive talent exodus. Jean Montero (Olympiacos), Brancou Badio (Panathinaikos), Sergio de Larrea (Dallas Mavericks), Jaime Pradilla (Real Madrid) and Braxton Key (Fenerbahce) are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the talent drain inflicted on the Valencian club by Europe’s biggest teams. Valencia will head into the new season having lost as many as nine players from last year’s roster.
However, the most painful departure of all was that of their head coach, Pedro Martínez. Because of what he represents in Valencia —he was the coach who led the team to its previous Liga title, in 2017—, because his departure came as a surprise… and because of where he went. The Catalan coach joined Real Madrid, a move that rarely goes down well on the banks of the Turia.
For all those reasons, the days following Valencia’s Liga Endesa triumph were marked more by uncertainty, almost even depression, than celebration. A championship team that had captivated fans not only with its success but, above all, with its frenetic style of play, saw almost its entire backbone crumble as it became impossible to match the offers arriving from some of European basketball’s giants for several of its players.
And yet, despite the understandable unease among the vast majority of their supporters, Valencia Basket’s decision-makers kept their cool at a difficult moment. Their project is solid, arguably the most important one in Spanish basketball right now. The financial backing of club owner and businessman Juan Roig has turned Valencia into a genuine reference point. The modernization of the organization in less than a decade has been remarkable, following the completion of L’Alqueria del Basket, the largest grassroots basketball development center in Spain and one of the leading facilities of its kind in Europe, as well as the colossal Roig Arena, the club’s new home that opened at the start of the recently completed season. Both projects have almost exponentially increased the club’s financial and social potential and, as a result, sporting success has followed.
And while the prevailing feeling in Valencia may be that the players who have left will be sorely missed, the Levantine club has responded impressively in a market in which it has made several statement moves. Landing players of the caliber of TJ Shorts and Armoni Brooks is a clear declaration of intent to preserve the team’s identity through a perimeter that once again promises plenty of scoring, while retaining one of the fundamental pieces of its recent success: Kameron Taylor.
It is true that Shorts was noth=ing like the player who dazzled Europe in Bonn and Paris during his time in Athens, but his style seems tailor-made for what Valencia Basket has been doing in recent years. And with Brooks, they have secured one of the EuroLeague’s best shooters: he averaged 2.7 three-pointers made per game while shooting 41.6% from beyond the arc for Milan last season.
Alongside them come two hungry young players: Mario Saint-Supery and Gonzalo Corbalán. The former is one of the great hopes of Spanish basketball. A combo guard with plenty of attacking swagger —something that has been in short supply in Spanish basketball lately—, Saint-Supery has been persuaded by Valencia to leave the NCAA adventure he embarked on a year ago at prestigious Gonzaga University. It is highly unusual these days to see European clubs lure young talent away from an American college basketball system awash with millions of dollars, making it clear just how committed Valencia’s bet on Saint-Supery has been. He is already a Spanish international, having represented the national team at EuroBasket 2025.
Corbalán, meanwhile, was one of the breakout stars of the most recent Liga Endesa season. After playing a key role in San Pablo Burgos’ promotion a year ago, the 24-year-old Argentine did nothing but prove that the jump to the top flight was nowhere near too big for him: 15.1 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, numbers that were instrumental in establishing a team that will even compete in the EuroCup next season. It will be interesting to see whether he can embrace another step up with the same ambition, as his EuroLeague debut will undoubtedly represent another significant jump in level. Álvaro Cárdenas will face a similar challenge in what will be his first full season as a ‘Taronja’: continuing to prove himself, as the NCAA-developed point guard has done consistently over the past few years.
On the bench, despite the shock of Pedro Martínez’s departure, the philosophy remains one of continuity. Xavi Albert will be tasked with getting the most out of a roster under considerable pressure following its recent success. The 39-year-old Valencian has spent the past three seasons as an assistant coach, first under Álex Mumbrú and then Martínez. Albert already knows what it is like to be the head coach of his hometown team. He took over down the stretch of the 2023-24 season, immediately after Mumbrú was dismissed and before Martínez returned to the club the following year.
The expectations will obviously be high, but the club itself made clear that Albert’s appointment is designed to preserve the successful identity established in recent years. “Valencia Basket is betting on continuity in terms of a clear identity and a very defined style of play by giving an opportunity to the lead assistant of the coaching staff over the past few seasons,” the club said in the statement announcing its new head coach.
The message, therefore, is unmistakable: Valencia intend to keep playing in much the same way.
The Valencian frontcourt has also undergone something of a revolution, although, interestingly, all three familiar options at center remain in place: Nate Reuvers, Yankuba Sima and Neal Sako.
The changes have come at power forward, with the confirmed additions of Dylan Osetkowski, who returns to Spain after his succesfull spell with Unicaja, and Senegalese forward Mo Gueye, who will make his European debut after stints in the NCAA, NBA and G League, trying to make an impact with his athleticism.
At least one more piece is still needed to make up for the departures of Matt Costello and the aforementioned Key and Pradilla. Two other players signed to multi-year contracts, Wildens Leveque and Oumar Ballo, will spend next season out on loan. It’s good to know that Alvaro Cardenas faced the same one year ago.
The truth is that, following the recent addition of Armoni Brooks, the level of that final signing could go a long way toward determining Valencia Basket’s ceiling. The club has done an impressive job of recovering from the talent drain that hit at the beginning of the offseason, but if it wants to replicate last season’s achievements, it will need to get that final signing right and, above all, make all the pieces fit together as seamlessly as they did under Pedro Martínez.
But, at least, the depression of a few weeks ago seems to be, at least partially, behind them.
Hope is wearing orange again.
