While last season's MVP gets ready to return to action, FC Barcelona has made sure to rebound from a 2-2 start and position itself in the upper echelons of the standings once again.
Its latest victory, 96-84 over visiting Cazoo Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz on Friday, was a reminder of just how deep and dangerous this team is even before Nikola Mirotic rejoins the battle.
Not many teams have the luxury of bringing off the bench a pair of veterans who were highly responsible for three Turkish Airlines EuroLeague titles between them. But if Barca didn't need take-over scoring nights from Jan Vesely and Cory Higgins before Friday, when they were needed most, that duo was more than ready to guarantee the team's fifth victory in six games.