The Euroleague.net journalists have explained who they think will win the EuroCup and why
Predicting the 2025-26 EuroCup champion
Straipsnis
14 Minutė skaityti
Ahead of opening night in the 2025-26 BKT EuroCup season, the Euroleague.net journalists – Geoff Gillingham, Javier Gancedo, Frankie Sachs and Igor Petrinovic – have taken the bold step of predicting which team will be lifting the EuroCup trophy in late April.
Hapoel IBI Tel Aviv achieved that honor last season, as did Paris Basketball before the season before that, but who will go all the way this season?
Bahcesehir goes all the way
Javier Gancedo
This is a highly ambitious project, and the club has been consistently signing top-tier talent over the past three seasons. Bahcesehir has added Trevion Williams, who was unstoppable during the 2023–24 EuroCup campaign with ratiopharm Ulm, and Balsa Koprivica, who consistently proved his worth whenever given significant minutes with Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade.
The team also brought in sharpshooter Caleb Homesley, whose clutch performances propelled Gran Canaria to the EuroCup Finals last season, knocking Bahcesehir out in the process, alongside Matt Mitchell and Hunter Hale.
Crucially, Bahcesehir retained its core group, led by Mateusz Ponitka, Kenan Sipahi, and Tyler Cavanaugh.
This roster has it all: EuroCup experience, athleticism, scoring power, and talent across every position. I'm picking Bahcesehir as my favorite to win it all this EuroCup season.
It’s Cluj’s time
Igor Petrinovic
I know that it might not be the most obvious pick, but I really like what U-BT Cluj-Napoca did this offseason to make itself better. Quarterfinalists in each of the last two seasons, Cluj might have lost some important pieces but I love who they picked up.
In the backcourt, there is the scoring threat of Fatts Russell, who I think is ready to drop 40 points each game, and on the wings it is Mitch Creek who can keep dropping the buckets. Then, they added tremendous experience with Jeffery Taylor, and maybe got themselves a couple of gems under the rims with Nathan Mensah and Dusan Miletic.
All of them playing under Cluj’s long-tenured coach Mihai Silvasan, who is a great coaching mind. I think it could be a special season for Cluj… a EuroCup-winning season!
Besiktas has everything it needs
Geoff Gillingham
I’ll tell you what, I am so impressed with the work done by Besiktas GM Nedim Yücel year in, year out. He’s consistently built very competitive rosters since Besiktas’s return to the EuroCup in 2023-24, but he might have outdone himself this summer.
In addition to retaining Jonah Mathews – a possible MVP candidate if things go well – Yücel brought in proven EuroCup talent in All-EuroCup Second Team selection Anthony Brown, Devon Dotson, and Brynton Lemar. If the three-pronged guard lineup of Mathews, Dotson and Lemar is enough to make the mouth salivate, wait until you see Besiktas’s big man options.
Center Ante Zizic has spent six seasons in the EuroLeague and three in the NBA, but he’ll get his first taste of the EuroCup this coming season, while the player backing him up is none other than Ismael Kamagate, who really stood out for Paris in the 2022-23 EuroCup campaign.
You know when you look at a roster and you see talented player after talented player? That’s how I feel with Besiktas. The Turkish side has the best coach in the EuroCup in Dusan Alimpijevic, too. Mark these words: Besiktas will be the 2025-26 EuroCup champion.
Hapoel Jerusalem has the championship blueprint
Frankie Sachs
Jerusalem finished second in its regular-season group last season before slipping up in the quarterfinals and had the EuroCup MVP. That MVP, Jared Harper, is back along with five more core players.
The team added more scoring, more defense and more depth and as a result, is a lot more dangerous. With Harper, Khadeen Carrington and Cassius Winston, Jerusalem has unparalleled backcourt scoring.
Anthony Lamb is another serious offensive weapon, while Austin Wiley, Dmytro Skapintsev and Yovel Zoosman can anchor a tough defense.
Sounds like a blueprint for a championship team to me!