Tribute to the Champs: Tuomas Iisalo

Coach Iisalo guided Paris to the top of the podium in their first season together

Tuomas Iisalo continued his rapid rise into the conversation of the best coaches on the continent by leading Paris Basketball to the BKT EuroCup championship in their first season together. Under Iisalo’s tutelage, Paris reeled off a 22-1 record, including sweeps in both the EuroCup Semifinals and Finals. All of that led to him being named EuroCup Coach of the Year.

The 41-year-old from Finland did not simply sit back and watch his team steamroll through the competition, but as his players attested to time and again in interviews during and after the season, Iisalo put his players through the ringer in practices, which were more intense than games. And those trying practices ensured that Paris was ready for whatever they came up against on the court.

Iisalo’s brilliance was not just the strategy, but the way he got all his player to buy in. He was open to taking input from his charges as well and thus built a close and united squad that only got stronger as the season progressed.

The EuroCup was Iisalo’s second continental trophy in as many years after guiding Telekom Baskets Bonn to the FIBA Basketball Champions League crown in 2023. A shooting guard on the Finnish national team during his playing days, Iisalo began coaching in his home country with Tapiolan Honka in 2014 before heading to Germany the following season. He spent five seasons with Crailsheim Merlins, which he guided from the second division to fifth place in the top league. Then came two successful seasons with Bonn before he came to Paris – along with six of his players – to continue making history.