Baloncesto Málaga

Baloncesto Málaga S.A.D.,^[2] also known as Unicaja for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Málaga, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the Champions League.

Unicaja
Leagues	Liga ACB Champions League
Founded	1977; 48 years ago (1977)
History	Caja de Ronda (1977–1992) Unicaja Mayoral (1992–1993) Unicaja Polti (1993–1994) Unicaja (1994–present)
Arena	Martín Carpena
Capacity	10,699[1]
Location	Málaga, Spain
Team colors	Forest green, white, purple and lime
President	Antonio López Nieto
Head coach	Ibon Navarro
Team captain	Alberto Díaz
Ownership	Unicaja
Championships	1 Intercontinental Cup 2 Champions League 1 EuroCup 1 Korać Cup 1 Spanish Championship 3 Spanish Cup 1 Spanish Supercup
Retired numbers	1 (5)
Website	unicajabaloncesto.com
Home Away Third

Unicaja Malaga 2024–25 Basketball Champions League championship ceremony

Founded in 1977, the team is sponsored by the Spanish bank Unicaja and has carried that sponsorship name since 1992. They play their home games at the Palacio de Deportes José María Martín Carpena, shortly known as the "Martín Carpena". Unicaja has won one Liga ACB title, in 2006, as well as three Copas del Rey, one EuroCup, two Basketball Champions League, one FIBA Korać Cup and one FIBA Intercontinental Cup title.

History

Unicaja was originally founded in 1977, as CB Caja de Ronda.^[3][4] In 1992, the club merged another ACB team in the city of Málaga, CB Maristas de Málaga, which was originally founded in 1953 as Ademar Basket Club. Over the years, the club has featured players like: Nacho Rodríguez, Berni Rodríguez, Carlos Cabezas, Jorge Garbajosa, Marcus Brown, Sergei Babkov, Michael Ansley, Louis Bullock, and Kenny Miller, as well as numerous other well-known players. The club won its first title, when it won the European-wide third tier level FIBA Korać Cup in the 2000–01 season. They then won the Spanish King's Cup title in 2005. The next year, in the 2005–06 season, Unicaja won its first-ever Spanish League championship.

The club finished its best years to date, by qualifying for the 2007 Euroleague Final Four, where it was defeated in the semifinals by CSKA Moscow, and thus finished in third place in the EuroLeague. In October 2007, Unicaja faced the NBA's Memphis Grizzlies in a friendly match, and they defeated the Grizzlies, by a score of 102–99. That was one of the 17 times that an NBA team has lost to a foreign club. Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro, two of the greatest Spanish basketball players of all time, played for Memphis in that historical game.^[5]

Málaga participated in the European-wide top-tier level league, the EuroLeague, for 15 consecutive seasons (2001–02 season to 2015–16 season). However, in the summer of 2015, it lost its EuroLeague A-licence. Therefore, in the 2016–17 season, Unicaja participated in the second tier level EuroCup. The club immediately won the EuroCup title, in its first season in the league, after winning over Valencia Basket in the league's Finals.^[6]

In the 2023–24 season, Unicaja switched from Euroleague Basketball-organised competitions to FIBA's Basketball Champions League. It won the championship after defeating Canarias in the final, which took place in Belgrade.^[7] As European champions, Unicaja then played in the 2024 FIBA Intercontinental Cup in Singapore, and won its first world-level title.

In the following 2024–25 season, Unicaja once again won the BCL championship, after defeating Galatasaray in the final of the Final Four in Athens.^[8] They became the second team to win consecutive league titles, following San Pablo Burgos.^[9]

Logos

• 
  Logo of the club since 2024.
• 
  Former logo of the club.

Home arenas

ACB 2011–12 game between Unicaja and Real Madrid, at Martín Carpena.

• Pabellón Guadaljaire (1977–78)
• Pabellón Tiro Pichón (1978–81)
• Pabellón Ciudad Jardín (1981–99)
• Palacio de Deportes José María Martín Carpena (1999–present)

Since 1999, Unicaja Málaga has played its home games at the Palacio de Deportes José María Martín Carpena arena. The arena originally seated 9,743 spectators for basketball games, and was expanded in the year 2010, to a current seating capacity of 11,300 people for basketball games.^[10]

Players

See also: Category:Baloncesto Málaga players

Retired numbers

Unicaja retired numbers
No	Nat.	Player	Position	Tenure	Ceremony date
5		Berni Rodríguez	SG	1998–2012	26 June 2012[11] 21 May 2017[12][13]

Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Unicaja roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age PF 0 Pérez, Tyson 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 29 – (1996-01-29)29 January 1996 C 2 Balcerowski, Aleksander 2.15 m (7 ft 1 in) 24 – (2000-11-19)19 November 2000 SG 4 Kalinoski, Tyler 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 32 – (1992-12-19)19 December 1992 SF 7 Barreiro, Jonathan 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) 28 – (1997-01-16)16 January 1997 PG 9 Díaz, Alberto (C) 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) 31 – (1994-04-23)23 April 1994 G/F 14 Đedović, Nihad 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) 35 – (1990-01-12)12 January 1990 F/C 33 Tillie, Killian 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 27 – (1998-03-05)5 March 1998 C 45 Kravish, David 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) 32 – (1992-09-12)12 September 1992 PG 55 Perry, Kendrick 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) 32 – (1992-12-23)23 December 1992 F Webb III, James 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 31 – (1993-08-19)19 August 1993 G Castañeda, Xavier 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in) 25 – (2000-03-26)26 March 2000 PF Sulejmanović, Emir 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 30 – (1995-07-13)13 July 1995 SG Duarte, Chris 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) 28 – (1997-07-13)13 July 1997	Head coach Ibon Navarro Assistant coach(es) Alberto Miranda Ángel Sánchez Cañete Paco Aurioles Legend (C) Team captain Injured Roster Transactions Updated: July 3, 2025

Depth chart

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C	David Kravish	Aleksander Balcerowski †	Tyson Pérez †
PF	Emir Sulejmanović	James Webb III *	Killian Tillie
SF	Chris Duarte	Jonathan Barreiro †	Nihad Đedović †
SG	Xavier Castañeda	Tyler Kalinoski
PG	Kendrick Perry	Melwin Pantzar	Alberto Díaz †

Notes: Blue † – homegrown player^[a]; Red * – overseas player^[b]; Green ‡ – youth player^[c]

Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria
To appear in this section a player must have either: Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

• Álex Abrines
• Curro Ávalos
• Saúl Blanco
• Carlos Cabezas
• Iñaki De Miguel
• Alberto Díaz
• Dani Díez
• Roger Esteller
• Jaime Fernández
• Xavi Fernández
• Germán Gabriel
• Jorge Garbajosa
• Ricardo Guillén
• Carlos Jiménez
• Tomás Jofresa
• Chuck Kornegay
• Pablo Laso
• Jesús Lázaro
• Juan Antonio Orenga
• Alfonso Reyes
• Berni Rodríguez
• Mario Muñoz Oses
• Ignacio Rodríguez
• Dani Romero
• Gaby Ruiz
• Mike Smith
• Carlos Suárez
• Fran Vázquez
• Paco Vázquez
• Sergi Vidal
• Jean-Jacques Conceição
• Juan Ignacio Sánchez
• Walter Herrmann
• Ademola Okulaja
• Marcus Faison
• Jean-Marc Jaumin
• JR Bremer
• Nedžad Sinanović
• Vítor Faverani
• Rafael Hettsheimeir
• Augusto Lima
• Rafa Luz
• Paulo Prestes
• Roderick Blakney
• Earl Calloway
• Earl Rowland
• Kyle Wiltjer
• Davor Kus
• Oliver Lafayette
• Veljko Mršić
• Sandro Nicević
• Hrvoje Perić
• Krunoslav Simon
• Zan Tabak
• Luka Žorić
• Jiri Welsch
• Christian Eyenga
• Juan José García
• Sasu Salin
• Joseph Gomis
• Edwin Jackson
• Mathias Lessort
• Florent Pietrus
• Stéphane Risacher
• Moustapha Sonko
• Frédéric Weis
• Giorgi Shermadini
• Shammond Williams
• Robert Archibald
• Joel Freeland
• Darren Phillip
• Ioannis Giannoulis
• Georgios Printezis
• Kostas Vasileiadis
• Pavel Ermolinskij
• Jon Stefansson
• Gal Mekel
• Jeff Brooks
• Kaspars Berzins
• Kristaps Valters
• Gintaras Einikis
• Mindaugas Kuzminskas
• Domantas Sabonis
• Richard Hendrix
• Omar Cook
• Vladimir Golubović
• Kendrick Perry
• Michał Chyliński
• Thomas Kelati
• Adam Waczyński
• Adam Wójcik
• José Ortiz
• Daniel Santiago
• Hamady Ndiaye
• Boniface Ndong
• Milan Gurović
• Stefan Marković
• Dragan Milosavljević
• Dejan Musli
• Nemanja Nedović
• Kosta Perović
• Bojan Popović
• Vladimir Štimac
• Uroš Tripković
• Zoran Dragić
• Erazem Lorbek
• Alen Omić
• Marko Tusek
• Richard Petruska
• Sergei Babkov
• Valeri Tikhonenko
• Volodymyr Gerun
• Eugene Jeter
• Panchi Barrera
• Jayson Granger
• Joe Arlauckas
• Victor Alexander
• James Augustine
• Mario Bennett
• Adrian Branch
• Marcus Brown
• Louis Bullock
• Jack Cooley
• Juan Dixon
• Zabian Dowdell
• Jamie Feick
• Gerald Fitch
• Kyle Fogg
• Marcus Haislip
• Marc Iavaroni
• Tarence Kinsey
• Tony Massenburg
• Ray McCallum Jr.
• Kenny Miller
• Gary Neal
• DeMarcus Nelson
• Andy Panko
• Brian Roberts
• Lou Roe
• Sean Rooks
• Ralph Sampson
• Paul Shirley
• Reggie Slater
• Ray Tolbert
• Marcus Williams
• David Wood

Head coaches

• Alfonso Queipo de Llano: 1977–79, 1985–86
• José María Martín Urbano : 1979–80, 1982, 1985, 1987, 1990–92
• Damián Caneda: 1980–81
• Ramón Guardiola: 1981–82
• Moncho Monsalve: 1982–84
• Ignacio Pinedo: 1984–85
• Arturo Ortega: 1986–87
• Zoran Slavnić: 1987–88
• Mario Pesquera: 1988–90
• Javier Imbroda: 1992–98
• Pedro Ramírez: 1998–99
• Božidar Maljković: 1999–03
• Paco Alonso: 2003
• Chechu Mulero: 2003
• Sergio Scariolo: 2003–08
• Aito Garcia Reneses: 2008–2011
• Chus Mateo: 2011–12
• Luis Casimiro: 2012
• Jasmin Repeša: 2012–13
• Joan Plaza: 2013–2018
• Luis Casimiro: 2018–2021
• Fotios Katsikaris: 2021–2022
• Ibon Navarro: 2022–present

Season by season

Caja de Ronda

Season	Tier	Division	Pos.	W–L	Copa del Rey	Other cups		European competitions
1978–79	2	1ª División B	10th	6–16
1979–80	2	1ª División B	9th	13–17
1980–81	2	1ª División B	1st	19–2–5
1981–82	1	1ª División	10th	10–1–15	Round of 16
1982–83	1	1ª División	12th	6–20	Quarterfinalist
1983–84	1	Liga ACB	10th	14–16
1984–85	1	Liga ACB	14th	13–19
1985–86	2	1ª División B	4th	18–15
1986–87	2	1ª División B	1st	24–10
1987–88	1	Liga ACB	14th	3–30		Copa Príncipe	R16
1988–89	1	Liga ACB	5th	23–15	Quarterfinalist
1989–90	1	Liga ACB	5th	21–17	Round of 16			3 Korać Cup	R1	1–1
1990–91	1	Liga ACB	10th	19–21	Third round			3 Korać Cup	R1	0–2
1991–92	1	Liga ACB	14th	16–23	Second round

CB Maristas

Season	Tier	Division	Pos.	W–L	Copa del Rey
1981–82	3	2ª División	1st
1982–83	3	2ª División	2nd
1983–84	3	2ª División	2nd
1984–85	2	1ª División B	16th	6–20
1985–86	3	2ª División	2nd
1986–87	2	1ª División B	18th	12–22
1987–88	2	1ª División B	4th	32–13
1988–89	1	Liga ACB	15th	22–17	First round
1989–90	1	Liga ACB	13th	18–22	Round of 16
1990–91	1	Liga ACB	14th	18–22	Second round
1991–92	1	Liga ACB	15th	15–22	First round

Unicaja

Season	Tier	Division	Pos.	W–L	Copa del Rey	Other cups		European competitions
1992–93	1	Liga ACB	6th	19–14	First round
1993–94	1	Liga ACB	12th	13–18	Quarterfinalist
1994–95	1	Liga ACB	2nd	32–16	First round
1995–96	1	Liga ACB	6th	27–14	Quarterfinalist			1 European League	GS	8–8
1996–97	1	Liga ACB	7th	22–17				3 Korać Cup	QF	9–3
1997–98	1	Liga ACB	8th	20–17				3 Korać Cup	R16	7–3
1998–99	1	Liga ACB	9th	18–16	Quarterfinalist			3 Korać Cup	GS	2–4
1999–00	1	Liga ACB	8th	22–17	Quarterfinalist			3 Korać Cup	RU	11–5
2000–01	1	Liga ACB	4th	30–11	Quarterfinalist			3 Korać Cup	C	14–2
2001–02	1	Liga ACB	2nd	33–10	Semifinalist			1 Euroleague	RS	6–8
2002–03	1	Liga ACB	3rd	29–15	Semifinalist			1 Euroleague	T16	8–12
2003–04	1	Liga ACB	4th	23–19				1 Euroleague	RS	4–10
2004–05	1	Liga ACB	3rd	27–16	Champion	Supercopa	3rd	1 Euroleague	RS	6–8
2005–06	1	Liga ACB	1st	35–10	Semifinalist	Supercopa	4th	1 Euroleague	T16	15–5
2006–07	1	Liga ACB	8th	17–20	Quarterfinalist	Supercopa	RU	1 Euroleague	3rd	14–11
2007–08	1	Liga ACB	4th	19–19	Quarterfinalist			1 Euroleague	T16	13–7
2008–09	1	Liga ACB	3rd	27–11	Runner-up			1 Euroleague	T16	10–6
2009–10	1	Liga ACB	4th	21–18				1 Euroleague	T16	9–7
2010–11	1	Liga ACB	8th	19–17				1 Euroleague	T16	6–10
2011–12	1	Liga ACB	9th	17–17	Quarterfinalist			1 Euroleague	T16	4–12
2012–13	1	Liga ACB	9th	18–16				1 Euroleague	T16	15–9
2013–14	1	Liga ACB	4th	26–15	Quarterfinalist			1 Euroleague	T16	11–13
2014–15	1	Liga ACB	3rd	29–13	Semifinalist			1 Euroleague	T16	8–16
2015–16	1	Liga ACB	6th	20–16		Supercopa	RU	1 Euroleague	T16	11–13
2016–17	1	Liga ACB	4th	24–14	Quarterfinalist			2 EuroCup	C	13–9
2017–18	1	Liga ACB	7th	19–17	Quarterfinalist	Supercopa	SF	1 EuroLeague	9th	13–17
2018–19	1	Liga ACB	6th	22-15	Quarterfinalist			2 EuroCup	QF	12–7
2019–20	1	Liga ACB	10th	15–13	Runner-up			2 EuroCup	—	11–5
2020–21	1	Liga ACB	11th	17–19	Quarterfinalist			2 EuroCup	T16	8–8
2021–22	1	Liga ACB	12th	13–21				3 Champions League	QF	6–6
2022–23	1	Liga ACB	3rd	27–13	Champion			3 Champions League	4th	14–4
2023–24	1	Liga ACB	3rd	32–9	Quarterfinalist	Supercopa	RU	3 Champions League	C	14–2
2024–25	1	Liga ACB	4th	26–14	Champion	Intercontinental Cup	C	3 Champions League	C	15–1
						Supercopa	C

Honours and awards

Domestic competitions

• Spanish League

Winners (1): 2005–06

Runners-up (2): 1994–95, 2001–02

• Spanish Cup

Winners (3): 2005, 2023, 2025

Runners-up (2): 2009, 2020

• Spanish Supercup

Winners (1): 2024

Runners-up (3): 2006, 2015, 2023

European competitions

• EuroLeague

Third place (1): 2006–07

• EuroCup

Winners (1): 2016–17

• FIBA Champions League

Winners (2): 2023–24, 2024–25

• FIBA Korać Cup

Winners (1): 2000–01

Runners-up (1): 1999–00

Worldwide competitions

• FIBA Intercontinental Cup

Winners (1): 2024

Other competitions

• 2nd division championships: (2)
  • 1ª División B: 1981, 1987
• Andalusia Cup: (17)
  • 1996, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2023, 2024.
• Torrox, Spain Invitational Game
  • 2008
• Trofeo de Platja d'Aro
  • 2008
• Trofeo Pollinica
  • 2008
• Trofeo Ciudad de Cordoba, Spain
  • 2009

Individual awards

ACB Finals MVP

• Michael Ansley – 1995
• Jorge Garbajosa – 2006

Spanish Cup MVP

• Jorge Garbajosa – 2005
• Tyson Carter – 2023
• Kendrick Perry – 2025

ACB Slam Dunk Champion

• Florent Piétrus – 2006
• James Gist – 2012

ACB Three Point Shootout Champion

• Paco Vázquez – 2001

All-EuroLeague Second Team

• Jorge Garbajosa – 2006

All-ACB First Team

• Jorge Garbajosa – 2005, 2006
• Jayson Granger – 2015
• Dylan Osetkowski – 2024

All-ACB Second Team

• Nemanja Nedović – 2017

EuroCup Finals MVP

• Alberto Díaz – 2017

Basketball Champions League Final Four MVP

• Kendrick Perry – 2024
• Tyson Carter – 2025

Reserve team

Baloncesto Málaga B is the reserve team of Unicaja, basketball based in Málaga.

From 2007 to 2016, Baloncesto Málaga had an agreement with CB Axarquía, for them to play as the club's main farm team, while Baloncesto Málaga B, which currently plays also under the name Unicaja, was the club's third team until the end of this contract.

Women's team

On 14 July 2017, the club announced the creation of a women's team.^[14]

Just in its second season, Unicaja promoted to Liga Femenina 2.^[15]

Season by season

Season	Tier	Division	Pos.
2017–18	3	1ª División	2nd
2018–19	3	1ª División	1st

Notes

1. A homegrown player is a player that played for at least three years before the age of 20 on a Spanish team. In Liga ACB, the team must register at least four homegrown players in rosters of 10–12 players or at least three homegrown players in rosters of 8–9 players. In Champions League, the team must register at least five homegrown players in rosters of 11–12 players or at least four homegrown players in rosters of 10 players.
2. A overseas player is a player from outside EEA, FIBA Europe or ACP states. In Liga ACB, the team may register at most two overseas players. In Champions League, the team did not have any limitations regarding the number of overseas players.
3. In Liga ACB, the team may register under-22 players linked to the youth system.