Four Teams: One Winner - Courtside 1891's BCL Final Four Preview
- → AEK Betsson BC will play to win a second championship in front of their own fans.
- → Unicaja has a shot at repeating last season’s success.
- → La Laguna Tenerife and Galatasaray battle on the other side of the draw.
- → Sunel Arena ready to host Final Four, coming to Athens for the third time.
- → Huertas’ Tenerife and Cummings’ Galatasaray will kick off hostilities at 4:00 PM BST.
All Roads Lead to Athens — Who Will Claim the 9th BCL Crown?
The ninth season of the Basketball Champions League culminates in Athens — a city that knows a thing or two about drama. This year’s Final Four feels heavy with narrative: three former champions, one hungry newcomer, and a stage that’s hosted triumph before.
AEK Betsson returns to the capital where they wrote their finest chapter in 2018. Unicaja, fresh off one of the most dominant BCL seasons in memory, arrives with a chance to repeat. La Laguna Tenerife, the tournament’s only undefeated team, brings both pedigree and purpose. And Galatasaray? They’re crashing the party for the first time — and just might burn the house down.
For all its statistical intrigue, the Final Four is a vibe check. Momentum, mystique, and moments. Who writes their next great story this weekend? Watch the BCL Final Four Live on Courtside 1891 with a FREE Plus account.
AEK Betsson BC: Home, History, and the Ghost of 2018
There’s something sacred about winning at home. AEK Betsson knows this — they lived it. In 2018, the OAKA Arena turned gold and black, and a team of misfits and veterans, led by Dragan Šakota, captured the BCL crown in front of a delirious Athenian crowd.
Seven years later, Šakota is back. Older, wiser, but still coaching like a man who doesn’t flinch in the fire. He’s traded Kevin Punter and Manny Harris for a new trio: Hunter Hale, Rayjon Tucker, and Prentiss Hubb — a backcourt that doesn’t blink.
Hale, the former Promitheas Patras standout, is playing like a man possessed. He’s dropped 20+ in four of his last five BCL appearances and just lit up Olympiacos for 34 over the weekend.
AEK, though, isn’t just hoping to ride the wave of Hale’s hot hand. They’ll need defensive tenacity, composure under pressure, and a little bit of that OAKA magic. Because standing in their way is a juggernaut — the most complete team in the tournament.
But if history has taught us anything, it’s this: Athens can be unforgiving to favorites. And AEK loves playing spoiler on their own soil.
Unicaja: The Juggernaut That Forgot How to Lose
At some point, Unicaja stopped playing games and started delivering statements.
They haven’t just won this season — they’ve crushed it. Eighteen straight victories in the BCL, a Copa del Rey title tucked under their arm, and an offense that hits you like waves: methodical, endless, and impossible to resist.
Their only blemish? A surprise loss to Galatasaray. A reminder that in basketball, even machines can misfire.
But make no mistake — Ibon Navarro has built a beast. This isn’t the same man who walked away from Athens in 2018 with a respectable third-place finish. This version has fire in his chest and depth on his bench.
Nine players averaging 8+ points. Only two in double figures. Everyone eats. Everyone defends. It’s less a rotation and more an orchestra — and Navarro’s baton keeps them in perfect time.
Tyler Kalinoski spaces the floor. Kendrick Perry breaks it. Dylan Osetkowski and David Kravish do the dirty work in the paint. Tyson Carter? Instant offense off the bounce.
And while Hale and AEK will bring the noise, Unicaja might bring the silence — the kind that comes when you’ve been picked apart possession by possession, with surgical boredom.
Athens is loud. Unicaja likes it quiet.
Tenerife: The Old Masters Still Painting
There’s nothing flashy about Tenerife. No viral clips. No wild iso-heavy possessions. Just crisp cuts, a spaced floor, and the patience of a team that knows exactly who they are.
But don’t mistake simplicity for softness.
Txus Vidorreta’s group is the most successful in BCL history, and this season might be his masterpiece. They arrive in Athens unbeaten — not because they dominate with brute force, but because they strangle you with precision.
Their Net Rating? +20.53. That’s not basketball. That’s math.
At the center of it all is Marcelinho Huertas — 41 years old and still running the show like a symphony conductor in sneakers. He just torched Promitheas for a 16-point, 13-assist clinic, and somehow seems faster with the ball than without it.
Giorgi Shermadini remains the anchor - 59 Net Rating across 14 games (!!), a metronome in the post. Around them, an ensemble cast of specialists: Fitipaldo, Scrubb, Doornekamp, Kramer, Abromaitis. None scream stardom. All know exactly what to do.
Still, there’s a shadow. Tenerife has never lifted the BCL outside Spain.
They’ve conquered neutral courts, sure — but Athens is different. It pulses with history. It tests your nerve. It’s the kind of place where margins shrink and legacy looms.
Tenerife isn’t afraid. But they’ve got something to prove.
Galatasaray looking at Cummings and Palmer Jr to defy odds
Every tournament needs a disruptor. This year, it’s Galatasaray - and they’re dangerous precisely because they don’t know what they can’t do.
No previous Final Four appearances. No banners in this competition. Just belief, bucket-getters, and a little bit of beautiful chaos.
Will Cummings is the face of that fearlessness. After Otis Livingston II went down, Cummings stepped in like he’d been waiting his whole life for it. Since then? 24.3 points per game, including a 33-point demolition job in Nymburk.
James Palmer Jr. is his running mate, an athletic wing who scores in bunches and isn’t afraid of the moment. Add in Rob Gray’s microwave offense off the bench, and suddenly you’ve got a team that can win a shootout — even against deeper squads.
Head coach Yakup Sekizkök may not have the resume of his Final Four peers, but he’s got something else: players who believe in him, and a team identity forged through adversity.
Forget their domestic form. Galatasaray is built for now. And right now, they’re in Athens with a shot at everything.
From Dream to Dynasty - Who Will Leave Athens as the 9th BCL Champion?
This Final Four isn’t just a battle for a trophy — it’s a test of identity. Unicaja’s depth versus AEK’s defiance. Tenerife’s method versus Galatasaray’s mayhem. Veterans chasing legacy. Newcomers chasing history. And a city that has seen it all, waiting for the next story to unfold.
When the lights go down at the Sunel Arena, someone’s season ends in heartbreak. Someone else will cut down the nets. Either way, the BCL’s ninth season promises one final chapter worth remembering.
