By Antonis Stroggylakis/ info@eurohoops.net
In the span of one week, Real Madrid made two of the most impressive midseason additions of 2024-25 so far by signing former NBAers Dennis Smith Jr. and Bruno Fernando in January.
It was a pair of moves that many considered to be essential for a Real Madrid team that needed an injection of quality and depth. While the Spanish powerhouse has turned its campaign around after a 6-9 start, they still lacked the looks of a true contender – something that Smith Jr. and Fernando were brought in to change.
It’s rare for a EuroLeague club to proceed through an entire campaign without some roster changes, either due to necessity and to fix offseason mishaps or to further enhance an already strong outfit and take it to the next level. Let’s take a look at a few midseason signings that made a championship difference to their teams, starting with the most recent one of them all.
Kendrick Nunn – Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens in 2023-24
Panathinaikos actually had a roster of considerable strength and star power entering the 2023-24 season, featuring Kostas Sloukas, Mathias Lessort and Juancho Hernangomez, among others. But there was a general feeling that maybe the team needed an extra punch on offense. The Greens were 2-3 early in the regular season when they announced the signing of guard Kendrick Nunn from the NBA on October 31.
Nunn debuted in EuroLeague on November 10 during an 85-99 road win at ALBA Berlin. He hadn’t played in a game since April, so he needed a bit of time to warm up and adjust to his new surroundings as a rookie in the top level of European basketball.
While it didn’t take long for Nunn to find his rhythm, managing to be productive in winning ways for Panathinaikos was a bit more complicated process. This combination began taking place around January, starting with back-to-back wins over AS Monaco and Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade, with Nunn having two straight 21-point games. He was becoming a more and more consistent threat and also had his first game-winner with the bucket that lifted his team past Virtus Segafredo Bologna on the road.
Even Nunn’s simple presence on the floor was transformative to Panathinaikos’s offense since he attracted quite the attention of the opposing defense and absorbed lots of pressure, creating more spaces, room and opportunities for his teammates.
It wasn’t until the playoffs that Nunn’s game would truly take off. With his team down 1-2 to Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv and on the brink of elimination, the American delivered 27 points and 4 assists in a Game 4 win on the road to bring the series back to OAKA. There, Nunn took over once more in Game 5 with 18 out of his 26 points coming in the second half, along with 5 rebounds and 4 assists to push Panathinaikos to victory and their first Final Four appearance since 2012.
There wouldn’t have been many arguments if Nunn grabbed the season MVP award to add to his All-EuroLeague First Team nod.
In Berlin, Nunn delivered a solid performance of 14 points in the semifinal victory over Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul and then put up 21 points as Panathinaikos beat Real Madrid in the championship game to lift the club’s seventh EuroLeague trophy.
Acie Law – Olympiacos Piraeus in 2011-12
In the summer of 2011, the roster of Olympiacos underwent a major renovation as the club chose a change of direction. Previously one of the biggest spenders in the EuroLeague, the Reds got rid of many of their fat contracts, signed big man Kyle Hines (who was a promising big man back then before becoming a legend), and built a roster of mostly young players around star Vassilis Spanoulis.
The team had to fight tooth and nail to advance through the regular season to the Top 16. Once there, Olympiacos released guard Kalin Lucas and brought ex-NBAer Acie Law as a replacement.
Law actually paid his own buyout fee to Partizan Belgrade to become a free agent and be available to join Olympiacos. After a couple of games with minimal contribution, he had 14 points in a win over Galatasaray in the Top 16 finale that secured his team’s ticket to the playoffs.
While Law began increasing his numbers, he was also successfully gelling with Spanoulis on the floor and complementing the Greek guard’s game, a key aspect during his entire run with Olympiacos. He had 9.2 points, 4.5 assists and 2.8 rebounds in the playoff series versus Montepaschi Siena where his team won 3-1 to book their ticket to the Final Four.
Law suffered a sprain in the semifinal with FC Barcelona and it looked impossible that he would be able to see any action in the championship game against CSKA Moscow. He could barely walk but insisted on playing and received an injection to be able to step on the floor and help his team.
The Reds ultimately claimed the title thanks to an unforgettable comeback and the iconic game-winner by Georgios Printezis. Although Law went scoreless during the 11:52 minutes he spent on the court, Olympiacos’s coach – the late Dusan Ivkovic – called him the hero of the game because of how his decision to play through pain and injury was for his teammates.
Joey Dorsey – Olympiacos Piraeus in 2011-12
Olympiacos’s 2011-12 story from being a total underdog to winning the EuroLeague championship probably wouldn’t have been written without center Joey Dorsey’s arrival in January 2012. Like Law, he began his maiden EuroLeague season with another club – Baskonia – before joining the Reds for the Top 16.
Upon his arrival, Dorsey became a defensive stalwart for Olympiacos with tremendous impact, not always shown in the numbers but making the squad faster and more mobile on both ends. In the playoffs, he was vital in materializing the plan to halt the action of near-unstoppable star Bo McCalebb, helping his team go up 2-1 before an injury kept him out of Game 4.
In the semifinal against Barcelona, Dorsey’s defensive contribution was enormous for Olympiacos, as was a key bucket he made to give the Reds a 68–64 lead in the last minute.
Edy Tavares – Real Madrid in 2017-18
The 2017-18 campaign hadn’t started with the best of omens for Real Madrid. The team had already lost reigning EuroLeague MVP Sergio Llull to a devastating ACL rupture in August, center Ognjen Kuzmic tore his ACL in the second game of the season, and big man Gustavo Ayon suffered a shoulder injury in November.
With its frontline all but wiped out, Real Madrid moved quickly to bring Edy Tavares back to Spain from the NBA. The center from Cape Verde was immediately thrown into the fire by becoming the starting “5” of a EuroLeague powerhouse and a contender in his first season in the competition.
With Tavares dominating the boards, blocking shots at will and spearheading the defense in an incomparably commanding fashion, Real went on to register seven straight wins not long after his arrival to shake off an uneven start.
Real made the Final Four by beating Panathinaikos 3-1 in the playoffs. Tavares had foul troubles in the semifinal win over CSKA Moscow but managed to stay on the floor long enough in the championship game against Fenerbahce to deliver 8 points, 5 rebounds and heaps of powerful defense to help Los Blancos win the title.