By Aris Barkas/ barkas@eurohoops.net

The EuroLeague is the top European basketball competition, and nobody can deny that. However, in 2025, with the interest in the sport growing in the continent, even among those outside the continent, it’s also obvious that there’s more to European basketball than the EuroLeague.

While everyone focuses on the top, there are other elite teams and competitions with their own value. These include the “underdeveloped” basketball countries that have made strides in recent years and are becoming relevant using national teams as vehicles. They also include the local leagues with their intricacies and clubs with big visions.

This was more evident than ever on Saturday night in Malaga. The defending champions of the Basketball Champions League faced the top team of the BKT EuroCup. In the end, the hosts Unicaja Malaga prevailed over Valencia in a game to remember.

It wasn’t just the quality of play that made the contents memorable, but also the high stakes involved. Thanks to this result Unicaja is leading the Spanish Liga Endesa and is chased by Real Madrid.

And while you can argue that Valencia is part of the extended EuroLeague ecosystem, since they are competing this year in the EuroCup and they are the favorite to win the trophy and get “promoted” to the top competition, Unicaja as a member of Liga Endesa and the Basketball Champions League has decided to turn their backs to the EuroLeague.

For whatever reasons, there are other clubs and even whole countries which are not part of the top competition. In the future that may change, but for now, it’s obvious that basketball is still growing in Europe and maybe has bigger potential than everyone can currently imagine.

That’s the current reality and everyone must do their part to help the growth of the sport, including the local leagues, the local federations, and ultimately FIBA.

Photo credit:  ACB / Mariano Pozo