With the 2026 Basketball Champions League now in the rearview mirror, Unicaja has a single, clear objective: securing a spot in the Liga Endesa playoffs. Though the dream of a third straight continental title slipped away, the team managed to boost its competitive morale—including the Duarte saga—by clinching third place with a win over Tenerife. The three-day showdown in Badalona shook the squad, but now all focus turns to the final and most critical chapter of the 2025/26 season: the domestic league.
All eyes are on the Liga Endesa. The last European chapter is closed, and the players return to an ACB campaign with plenty of work ahead. There’s no denying that Unicaja’s season has been marred by misfortune. Yet, despite the setbacks, the Malaga side has consistently clung to the coveted top-eight positions that grant a ticket to the fight for Spain’s most prestigious club trophy.
Currently, Unicaja sits on the playoff bubble in eighth place with a 16-13 record—the same as ninth-placed Surne Bilbao Basket. However, the green-and-purple team holds the tiebreaker advantage over the Basque side based on head-to-head average. Importantly, Unicaja still has a game in hand against Joventut (postponed due to a video scoreboard issue), a fixture that Bilbao cannot equal. This weekend, Bilbao lost 90-81 on the road to Lleida, meaning Unicaja still controls its own destiny. The road ahead is tough, but direct rivals face similarly challenging schedules, and the eighth spot feels a little closer today than it did just 24 hours ago.
The calendar offers both hope and pressure. Unicaja trails Joventut (28 games, 17-11, sixth) and Tenerife (29 games, same record, seventh). Those two teams will face off on May 30 (9:00 PM) to make up a postponed fixture, guaranteeing that at least one direct rival will drop a win. Meanwhile, Unicaja’s own schedule is relentless: after landing in Malaga at 2:10 PM on Sunday, the team immediately turns its attention to Thursday’s clash in Burgos (7:00 PM), followed by a trip to Murcia on Sunday (12:30 PM). Before returning to Badalona on May 26 to finish the suspended game against Joventut, the Carpena will host Breogán. Then comes the regular-season finale against Baskonia—hopefully a punctuation mark before the playoffs begin.
These are five finals that will not only decide playoff qualification but could also help Unicaja climb the standings and avoid a first-round matchup with Real Madrid. Missing out on June competition would be a sporting, emotional, and image blow—even after winning the Intercontinental Cup, comfortably securing a Copa del Rey berth, and claiming a BCL bronze. Two drastically different outcomes, perhaps unfair, but that’s the nature of sports. The pencil is in Unicaja’s hand; let’s see what story it writes.
