2025-26 Valencia Basket
102 · 2026-04-08 · medium
When it comes to being on the correct side of history, war powers and immigration and whatnot, Spain is kind of on a hot streak lately. The country's prime minister is a socialist – the real pragmatic kind, none of that Brooklyn layabout podcaster garbage – and he's been saying all the right things in recent days. "The Spanish government will not applaud those who set the world on fire just because they turn up with a bucket." Bars, dawg! On a few occasions this year, I've found myself thinking about re-immigrating there myself; I've always loved my visits to Barcelona. In my daydream, I'm enjoying a Black Dot at SIPS while Bad Gyal's "Fuma" plays in the background. But then I remember EuroBasket 2022, when the Spanish team won the tournament by giving Lorenzo Brown a passport at the last minute, and then they whined about every single foul called against them in the group stage. It worked because both Lithuania and Germany got jobbed in the playoffs; you might not remember but I do. And don't forget the whole Mesoamerican thing in the 1600s, millions perished in history's largest genocide. You know what? Fuck Spain. But you can't really throw the bebè out with the aigua del bany, can you? The EuroLeague regular season is entering its final week, with just two rounds to go. Each team plays 38 games now, up from 34 a year ago, due to last summer's league expansion to 20 teams. Most analysts and enjoyers expected the prime beneficiaries to be large-spending newcomers like Dubai BC or Hapoel Tel Aviv, but the big surprise has been an Iberian re-entry. Valencia's continental journey in the 21st Century has been an endless promotion and relegation loop, with excellence in the second-tier EuroCup – championships in 2010, 2014 and 2019; final fours in 2022 and 2025 – that earns them a spot in the EuroLeague, where they finish in 15th or 16th place, rinse and repeat. But this season is different. Naranja Mecánica, the Orange Machine, because of the famous local froot, has a beautiful new NBA-sized arena that the owner named after himself, and an operating budget to sign Euroballers that fit with a new team vision and concept. They're 23-13, and reached the EL playoffs for the first time in 15 years. The inside track for the No. 2 seed is more important than usual because no team has a winning road record. That's just one of the items that's made 2025-26 the weirdest EuroLeague season in EuroLeague history; the others are massive increases in player injuries, racist fan incidents, and inter-owner drama. But yes, still, despite all that, whenever Valencia is on I'm automatically tuning in. If you can run like hell, and take the first open shot, and crash the boards yourself if you miss, you can be an Orange too.