Barça puts names and surnames to the reconstruction of the basketball section

BarcelonaBarça has decided to trust Xevi Pujol and Aleksander Sekulic to revive the basketball section. The club will relocate Joan Carles Navarro, who still has two more years on his contract, but the former player no longer participates in strategic decisions. The idea of the Culer entity is to rejuvenate the project and look for a style of players who can develop a more modern and dynamic style of play.

Pujol's separation from Baskonia is not proving easy. Barça would like to negotiate, but the Basque club does not accept the Culer's proposal and threatens legal action. Although he had planned to terminate his contract, Josean Querejeta wants to obtain an economic benefit. If an agreement is not reached, the Catalan entity understands that from August 2nd the technical secretary is free, but his incorporation could end in litigation.

Regarding the bench, Sekulic's choice generates consensus both at the Palau Blaugrana and the board of directors. The initial idea was to sign Paolo Galbiatti, but Baskonia rejected Barça's proposal and asked for an unachievable compensation. The Italian is already ruled out. Despite considering other coaches like Ergin Ataman, Sergio Scariolo, and Velimir Perasovic, the club hopes to finalize Sekulic's incorporation very soon. His contract will be for two seasons and the announcement could come in a few days. The Slovenian comes from coaching Dubai Basketball, which is precisely the EuroLeague club where Xavi Pascual will go this summer. The coach from Gavà made the termination clause effective this Tuesday.

The decisions are being supervised by Joan Laporta and executed by Xavier O'Callaghan and Mario Fernández. Barça had agreed on signings of stars like Sylvain Francisco, Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot, Alpha Diallo, and Isaac Bonga, but the players changed their minds at the last minute. The outcome of each situation is different and has to do with a change of agent, Baskonia's preferences, or economically superior offers. The cases of Moses Wright and Mike James are different. The former will use his release clause (900,000 euros) to accept a higher economic offer from Olimpia Milan. The latter was an express request from Xavi Pascual, and without him he is not in the plans of the culé club. The club, which had not yet signed, does not expect James, who has accepted a higher offer from Efes, to take the case to court.

More investment

Barça, which will increase the salary investment from 28.6 to 35 million euros, wants to rejuvenate the project and bet on a generational change. After announcing the signings of Olivier Nkamhoua and Justin Robinson, the basketball section has a verbal agreement with Tyrese Martin and Stanley Umude to continue strengthening the roster. For the interior positions, they seek to complement Josh Nebo with specific profiles. Furthermore, Agustín Ubal will also join a project that wants to cautiously introduce Mohamed Dabone. The young player still has a student visa and the Higher Sports Council must authorize him to compete in a professional league.

On the other hand, the continuity of veterans Kevin Punter and Toko Shengelia is not assured. The shooting guard is concerned, but for the moment he has not found an offer that improves the ascending contract that Barça signed for him. As for the power forward, he agreed to a contract extension with the blaugrana club but has many doubts about the objectives of the project they want to build. His release clause is set at 900,000 euros.