By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Belgian national team center Ismael Bako (208 cm, 103 kg) successfully passed a medical examination and signed a contract with UNICS. Last season, the big man defended the colors of the Italian Virtus in the Euroleague. The agreement with the 27-year-old Belgian was concluded according to the “1 + 1” scheme.
This year, Bako, as part of a club from Bologna, won the Italian Super Cup and also became the finalist of the national Cup and vice-champion of the country.
The Belgian big man has 85 matches in the Euroleague – the previous season with Virtus and the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons with the French ASVEL. In the last Euroleague season, he played 34 games with averages of 6.1 points and 2.7 rebounds on 67% of hits from the field. In 23 league games in 2022/23, the center averaged 4.6 points and 4.1 rebounds.
In addition to Virtus and ASVEL, Ismael played for the Spanish Manresa, as well as the Belgian Antwerp Giants and Leuven Bears. The UNICS rookie has a rich collection of trophies. Bako is the champion of France (2021), winner of the Italian Super Cup (2022), winner of the French Cup (2021) and Belgian Cup (2019), MVP of the Belgian Cup (2019), member of the symbolic five of the Champions League (2019) and the award for the best young player of the Belgian championship ( 2017).