Fans of both teams will recognize more than one member of the opponent who represented their jerseys in the past.
Familiar faces fill key Fenerbahce-Barca showdown
Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul (18-11) hosts FC Barcelona (20-9) in a big game for both teams. It is Fenerbahce head coach Sarunas Jasikevicius's first game against Barca since his departure from that club, but this game offers so much more. Take a look!
Earlier this season, and beyond
It is a pivotal game in the race to reach the playoffs and get the home-court advantage there. Any tiebreak advantage will be important, maybe more than ever. Barca beat Fenerbahce 89-81 in Round 13 at home in Palau Blaugrana, and that eight-point gap will be critical if Fenerbahce wins. Willy Hernangomez paced the winners with 21 points on 10-for-13 two-point shooting and 9 rebounds. Fenerbahce led 55-64 midway through the third quarter but a 14-0 run put Barca ahead for good. Nigel Hayes-Davis led Fenerbahce with 18 points.
Barca is 24-11 against Fenerbahce since the turn of the millenium, and they have never faced each in the playoffs or Final Four. That makes Wednesday's showdown one of the biggest ever between them, as both are fighting for big goals right now. Barca last won at Ulker Sports and Event Hall on October 26, 2021, downing Fenerbahce 74-76 on a buzzer-beater by Nikola Mirotic. Last season, Fenerbahce snapped a three-game home losing streak against Barca with an 81-73 win behind 16 points from Johnathan Motley.
Fener: A 100-point Spanish poker?
Fenerbahce is setting records almost every week, especially at home. Last week, Fenerbahce beat Valencia 118-88 by hitting 24 three-pointers to set a new all-time EuroLeague record. Tyler Dorsey buried 8 of them, Scottie Wilbekin 6 and Hayes-Davis 4. Those 118 points are also a new club record for Fenerbahce, eclipsing the one it had set earlier this month with 1 11-96 home win against another Spanish team, Baskonia Vitoria-Gasteiz, on March 1. Fenerbahce showed great depth, with six players scoring between 19 and 11 points, all led by Hayes-Davis (19).
Fenerbahce had also reached triple digits in scoring in a 100-99 home win against Real Madrid. Wilbekin forced overtime in that Round 11 game back in November with a three-pointer and Yam Madar scored the game-winning basket off a late inbound steal by Marko Guduric. Scoring 100 or more against four teams of the same country in the same season is unprecedented. Fenerbahce scored over 100 points twice more this season, getting 101 against LDLC ASVEL and 109 against Maccabi Playtika Tel Aviv. It is no surprise that Fenerbahce leads the EuroLeague in points per game at home (93.2), given its outstanding three-point accuracy (44.4%) in front of its fans. On the road, Fenerbahce ranks 17th in three-point shooting (33.8%).
Crossed paths in Istanbul
This is a game with many storylines. The biggest one, as mentioned, is that Coach Jasikevicius faces his former team for the first time since leaving Barca. He helped Barca reaching three consecutive Final Fours from 2021 to 2023 and win two Spanish League and two Spanish Copa del Rey titles. Center Sertac Sanli and playmaker Nick Calathes, both of whom preceded Jasikevicius to Fenerbahce, both made it to the Final Four twice with him and Barca. Hayes-Davis also played with Sanli and Calathes and for Coach 'Saras' in the 2021-22 season, helping Barca make it to the Final Four win the Copa del Rey.
Barca also has its good share of former Fenerbahce players. Jan Vesely played for Fenerbahce from 2014 to 2022, leading the team to five consecutive Final Fours. Vesely played three consecutive EuroLeague Championship games with Fener, from 2016 to 2018, lifting the trophy in 2017. Nikola Kalinic also reached those championship games with Fenerbahce and won the 2017 EuroLeague title during his six seasons with Fenerbahce. Vesely is Fenerbahce's all-time leader in scoring (2,590 points), rebounds (1,158), steals (228), blocks (149), fouls drawn (819) and PIR (3,403), and was chosen as the 2018-19 EuroLeague MVP with Fenerbahce. Kalinic scored 995 points in 142 games with his former club.
Calathes, a double milestone chance
Calathes is not only set to continue making EuroLeague history, but can do so twice in this game. With his next start, Calathes will become the second player to make 300 starts in the competition. Only Kostas Papanikolaou, with 302 stars, and counting, is ahead of the 299 by Calathes. They are the runaway leaders in this statistical category: Paulius Jankunas ranks third with 283 and the next active player is Edgaras Ulanovas of Zalgiris Kaunas, who has been in starting lineups 251 times.
Calathes is also close to a record that has been unbeatable for almost a decade. He is now tied with former teammate and three-time EuroLeague champion Dimitris Diamantidis at the top of the all-time steals table. Diamantidis and Calathes have each collected 434 steals. It took Diamantidis 278 games to get them, and Calathes is set to play his 347th career game against Barca. Rudy Fernandez ranks third overall with 364 career steals. Calathes already ranks first overall in career assists (2,030), is fifth in defensive rebounds (1,085) and seventh in total PIR (4,108).