Departures, goals and coach

With five rounds remaining in the Euroleague regular season, Real Madrid has reached another level in the competition.

Despite suffering three straight defeats, before their victory over Virtus in Bologna, the European champions are a safe distance away from Barcelona (23-6 Madrid, 20-9 Catalunya), and will finish first in the regular season final, but they know it, that their summer will be… Difficult and maybe at the start of the 2024/25 season they will be a completely different team.

Why might this happen? Because many of the players who helped them remain in the EuroLeague elite will see their contracts expire and many of them may leave the club. Likewise, coach Chus Mathieu, who is under constant pressure and doubts.

At the end of the season, the contracts of Sergio Rodriguez, Sergio Jol, Rudy Fernandes, Mario Hezonia, Eddie Tavares, Vincent Poirier and Fabian Causer will expire, as well as the head coach who is said to already know his future. Which is likely to miss Real Madrid unless it wins the Euroleague for the second year in a row.

Contracted for at least another season are Facundo Capasso, Carlos Alluthin, Janan Musa (with an option for an NBA team only), Gabriel Deck, Gershon Yabuselli, Alberto Ambaldi and youngsters Hugo Gondalez – Ilie Ediag – Ismael Diagne.

As you can easily see, the situations of Jol, Rodriguez and Fernandes look like… the daily situation (18, 17, 15 minutes per game on average in the Euroleague this year) and if they want to stay for another season, they will stay one way or another. Moreover, the case of Fabian Koser is also easy for both sides, unlike the case of Mario Hezonia, Vincent Poirier and Eddie Tavares.

The Croatian striker is said to be ready to leave, with Panathinaikos waiting for him with open arms, the French center will not be nervous as he will find a good contract and potentially get it from Real, while the scarecrow from Cape Verde intends to explore the NBA market before considering his options in Europe.

What is certain is that Real Madrid have made him their absolute priority, knowing that there is no other tall player in our country to replace Tavares should he leave Spain.

Whatever happens with the periphery (Jole, Rodriguez, Kozer, Fernandez), Real Madrid will try to get a top-tier goaltender and it could be Lorenzo Brown, who has recently been targeted by other EuroLeague superpowers. The American organizer will not remain at Maccabi Tel Aviv and the next deal he will sign will certainly be multi-year and an excellent seven-figure annual figure.

As for Hezonia's alternative? This is something Real will deal with having previously settled the affairs of Tavares, the team's veteran player, and Brown, who will coincidentally be playing in Spain as a native as he also plays for the country's national team.

Finally, it should be recognized that the European champion wants to bring back Ousmane Garuba, who has not been able to establish himself in the NBA (belonging to the Golden State Warriors, with a two-way contract situation), while his return is also possible for Matteo Spagnuolo after his “farm” at Alba Berlin.