San Pablo Burgos was the great revelation of the final phase of the ACB where, with Joan Peñarroya on the bench, he reached the semifinals losing to Barça. The captain of this Burgos was Javi Vega, a pivot of 2.05 and 32 years, who with the match against Barça put an end to a stage of five seasons at the Spanish club. Next year, Javi Vega will play for Leyma Coruña, which, although very little is still known about most of the LEB squads, is already one of the teams to be considered in the new category in which it will compete. Basketball Girona. And, curiously, Javi Vega is one of the members of Bàsquet Girona in 3×3 in a combination of “club player” in summer and “rival” in winter that, depending on what happens in the coming weeks, could repeat with three of the other members of the new 3×3 team created by Marc Gasol’s club. Nacho Martín, Àlex Llorca and Sergio de la Fuente are players with ACB potential (and all three would like to play there next season), but they also have a lot of market in LEB Or. The other two members of the team, Sergi Pino and Xavi Guirao, now only play professionally in 3×3 and in the winter they compete with EBA League or Copa Catalunya teams.
Playing 3×3 competitions with Bàsquet Girona and, with another club, the Endesa League (ACB) or the LEB Or is not, in any case, incompatible. Nacho Martín has always done so, with Betis or Estudiantes for example, Javi Vega with Burgos or Sergio de la Fuente with Valladolid. But now, the novelty is that, thanks to the involvement of Marc Gasol, these players will have contracts with face and eyes both with their clubs (as before), but also to play 3×3. Bàsquet Girona is the first elite club to have a professional 3×3 team. In other words, a team with contracts, registered with social security … «The right club has finally arrived to carry out what we were looking for a long time ago and, above all, a great president, who supports us and trusts us. We; it’s a big step forward for 3×3 “, explained Nacho Martín on the day of the presentation of the team in Platja d’Aro, acknowledging that, personally, he and the rest of his teammates expected someone to bet on this sport as he has done pivot of the Raptors and president of Bàsquet Girona.
Sergi Pino and Xavi Guirao, former players at the time of Sant Josep Girona as well as Jaume Comas (coach of Girona 3×3), have long been focused on this form of basketball despite playing in EBA or Copa Catalunya teams, but the case of Javi Vega, Nacho Martín, Àlex Llorca and Sergio de la Fuente is different. All four combine the 3×3 tournaments with the ACB or LEB seasons, but if until now, the summers were free “paying for our pocket, travel, hotels, food …” they will now have a structure behind them. Or, at least, they will count on it when the covid-19 pandemic allows 3×3 tournaments to be played both in Spain and internationally.
For now, Javi Vega is the only one who is clear where he will play next season. In LEB Or with Leyma Coruña after five years in Burgos while Sergio de la Fuente is waiting to see what happens with Valladolid. The pivot winger has been a reference in a team that, at least sportingly, has managed to rise to the ACB. It does not seem easy, however, for Valladolid to sign this promotion in the offices. If he does, Sergio de la Fuente will compete in the highest category, but, on the other hand, if Valladolid continues in LEB Or, the center-back could be in the same case as Javi Vega: player of Bàsquet Girona in the 3×3 team and rival in the winter season.
Nacho Martín played last season at Betis, but, at the age of 37, he had less prominence than usual (5 points and 15 minutes in 17 games) in his long career in the category: Granada, Valladolid, Canary Islands, Estudiantes, Zaragoza … The pivot has also played in LEB OR, in Manresa in the year of promotion and in Valladolid, and it is not clear where he will play next year. Beyond the 3×3 with Bàsquet Girona. “I like to play both modalities, 3 × 3 and 5 × 5, but no one knows the future, whether I will have offers or not, whether I will be more interested in one thing or the other. If you ask me if from today I will be closer to taking the step and retiring from 5 × 5 and dedicating myself to 3 × 3, because sooner or later it will happen, but I don’t know when “, explained Martín fa a few weeks in the magazine Giants.
Finally, Àlex Llorca ended up playing last season in LEB Or (3 games with A Coruña. Once recovered from an injury), but he also has experience in the ACB with Manresa and Fuenlabrada. Where he will play after the summer is still unknown, but it would not be a big surprise that, as in the case of Javi Vega, he ends up being a “Girona Basketball player” in the summer and a “rival” in the winter. At the moment, for the LEB Or season, Bàsquet Girona has three confirmed players: Albert Sàbat, Gerard Sevillano and Robert Cosialls
.
