Barcelona's Cory Higgins to miss 2023 EuroLeague Final Four

FC Barcelona is the first team to have booked its place at the 2023 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four, but it will have to play its games in Kaunas, Lithuania without two-time champion Cory Higgins. The guard, who last played in Round 34 of the regular season, missed the playoff series against Zalgiris Kaunas due to a back problem and will now miss the Final Four after undergoing surgery.

We inform you that our player Cory Higgins has successfully undergone surgery for the lower back problems he had," read Barca's statement. "The operation, performed at the Hospital de Barcelona, has been carried out by Dr. Maite Ubierna and Dr. Anna Garcia de Frutos. The player is out for the rest of the 2022/23 season."

Higgins made 32 appearances for Barca during the 34-game regular season, averaging 8.7 points, 2.2 rebounds, 1.7 assists and an 8.7 PIR in 19:49 on the court. The 33-year-old, who joined Barca in 2019, has been an important member of the team's last two trips to the Final Four, in which the Blaugrana lost in the 2021 championship game to Anadolu Efes Istanbul before falling short in the 2022 semifinals to archrival Real Madrid.

Having previously become a EuroLeague champion while playing for CSKA Moscow, lifting the trophy in 2016 and 2019, Higgins's experience on the court will come as a big blow to Barca, which is trying to win its first EuroLeague title since 2010. He has played in a total of six Final Fours in the past, having reached four straight with CSKA between 2015 and 2019, while he also played in Europe's showpiece event in 2021 and 2022 with Barca.