By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
After recovering from a right knee injury, Jan Vesely is set to return to action with FC Barcelona.
With Dame Sarr unavailable, and Chimezie Metu (Achilles surgery), Juan Nunez (right knee surgery), and Nicolas Laprovittola (right knee surgery) ruled out for the remainder of the 2024-25 season, the 34-year-old Czech big is a huge boost for the team coached by Joan Penarroya.
The update on his status was reported by insider Marc Mundet on Thursday.
🔵🔴 BARÇA | Última hora
El Barça farà oficial avui el retorn de Jan Vesely. pic.twitter.com/qvPpKNJhSy
— Marc Mundet (@MarcMundet78) April 10, 2025
A EuroLeague champion in 2017 and the most valuable player of the 2018-19 season with Fenerbahce, Vesely traveled with his teammates in recent games, confirming progress toward suiting up for Barca.
He was sidelined in late January and then projected to sit out eight to ten weeks. Among the several significant injury blows for Barca, he previously tallied 9.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.5 blocks per contest in his 14th Turkish Airlines EuroLeague campaign. In Spain’s Liga Endesa, he averaged 8.6 points, 2.5 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.4 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game.
Preparing to complete the EuroLeague Regular Season with Virtus Segafredo Bologna visiting Palau Blaugrana on Friday evening, Barcelona is tied with three more teams at 19-14 between the bottom end of the playoff zone and play-in territory. The last week of the 34-game double-legged round-robin schedule will decide the entry spot to postseason action.
Meanwhile, a 15-11 W-L tally ranks fifth in the ACB standings, seven games away from archrival and leader Real Madrid.