After a strong domestic campaign, Joventut Badalona is thinking big again. The former EuroLeague and EuroCup winner, Joventut put together a competitive team with an uncontested leader in playmaker Nico Laprovittola and experienced players such as Marko Todorovic, Luke Harangody and late arrivals Thad McFadden and Nobel Boungou-Colo. Of course, there were homegrown talents to make all Joventut fans proud, such as Xabi Lopez-Arostegui, Albert Ventura and Nenad Dimitrijevic. Joventut finished the first half of the Spanish League regular season with a 10-7 record and qualified for the Copa del Rey tournament. Once there, Laprovittola had a monster game with 36 points and 7 assists for a performance index rating of 50 to lead Joventut past KIROLBET Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz in the quarterfinals. Real Madrid beat Joventut in the semifinals, but that didn't stop the green-and-black powerhouse. An 86-78 win against Movistar Estudiantes allowed Joventut to finish the regular season seventh with an 18-16 record. Archrival FC Barcelona Lassa defeated Joventut in the playoffs, but the season to remember concluded with Laprovittola chosen as the Spanish League MVP and the club showing it is on the right track to get back to its glory days.

EuroLeague

EuroCup

Joventut Badalona returns to the EuroCup for the first time in a decade. Joventut was founded in 1930 and quickly built a reputation based on its faith in homegrown players. The long list of Joventut players brought up through its youth system features decades' worth of stars like Jordi Villacampa, the Margall brothers, the Jofresa brothers, Nino Buscato, Rudy Fernandez and Ricky Rubio. To its own mine of local talent, Joventut integrated outsiders such as Moka Slavnic, Joe Galvin and Corny Thompson. Joventut emerged as a national power by winning four Spanish Copas del Rey between 1948 and 1958 and its first league title in 1967 with Buscato as the star. It was not until Slavnic arrived that the team would claim its second league title in 1978. Joventut continued to progress, winning its first European trophy by lifting the Korac Cup in 1981. Joventut would add a second Korac Cup in 1990 by sweeping the two-game finals against Scavolini Pesaro. Soon after moving to Palau Olimpic, its current home court, Joventut won consecutive Spanish League titles in 1991 and 1992, the year in which the team lost the EuroLeague final against Partizan in dramatic fashion. Joventut would only wait two more years to lift the crown, however. Villacampa and Thompson hit crucial three-pointers to beat Olympiacos 59-57 in Tel Aviv and win the EuroLeague in come-from-behind fashion. Joventut went on to add the Copa del Rey in 1997, but a downturn followed. Joventut started to shine again in the newborn ULEB Cup and reached the semifinals in 2003. Joventut had its breakout season in 2006, as it advanced to the Spanish League semifinals for the first time since 1997 and won a new European trophy, the 2006 FIBA EuroCup. In 2007, Joventut returned to the Spanish League semifinals and made the Euroleague Top 16, thrilling the entire continent with its fun-to-watch basketball in its first appearance in the top competition in more than a decade. In 2008, Joventut added the ULEB Cup to its roll of honors, losing just one game in the entire season and clinching the title with a massive 54-79 win against Akasvayu Girona in the final as Fernandez was named MVP. Joventut also won the Copa del Rey and reached the Spanish League semifinals to round out one of the best seasons in club history. Joventut reached the EuroCup Last 16 in 2010, but lost its competitiveness shortly thereafter. Joventut bounced back last season, reaching the Copa del Rey semifinals and the Spanish League playoffs behind Spanish League MVP Nico Laprovittola. The club looks to a bright future and the chance to compete in the EuroCup proves that Joventut is on the right track.

Trophy Case