A Spanish derby with plenty of significance in the race for the playoffs sees Valencia (13-14) welcome a Barcelona (18-9) team that will play five of its last seven games on the road.
Game Notes: Valencia vs. Barcelona

Last week's loss in Bologna again showed Valencia's tendency to be over-reliant on playmaker Chris Jones, whose 20 points made him the only Taronjas player to score in double digits. The host certainly needs a big contribution from former Barca center Brandon Davies as he confronts Jan Vesely and Willy Hernangomez. Vesely was the decisive force, scoring 17 points, as his team edged Valencia 74-70 earlier in the season, and he was also Barca's best player in last week's home loss to Monaco.
- The first time Valencia and Barcelona met head-to-head in the EuroLeague was in 2017-18, when they split home games.
- Brandon Davies spent three seasons with Barcelona, from 2019 to 2022. He helped Barcelona reach a pair of EuroLeague Final Fours.
- Davies was also a teammate of Barcelona's Rokas Jokubaitis at Zalgiris during the 2018-19 season.
- Victor Claver spent five seasons with Barcelona, from 2016 to 2021, helping the team reach the 2021 EuroLeague Championship Game. He was a teammate of Alex Abrines.
- Claver and Barcelona's Willy Hernangomez have been long-time teammates on the Spanish national team and won a gold medal at the 2019 Baskteball World Cup, an Olympic bronze in 2016, and a EuroBasket gold in 2015. Hernangomez, Dario Brizuela, Joel Parra and Alex Abrines were teammates of Claver on the Spanish national team at the 2023 World Cup.
- Valencia's Jaime Pradilla and Xabi Lopez-Arostegui were teammates with Hernangomez, Dario Brizuela and Joel Parra on the Spanish national team that won the gold medal at EuroBasket 2022.
- Joel Parra and Xabi Lopez-Arostegui both grew up at Joventut Badalona and made their professonal debuts there, and were teammates from 2017 to 2021.
- Claver posted career highs in PIR (24), defensive rebounds (9) and assists (5) while playing for Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar against Barcelona during their best-of-five EuroLeague Playoffs series in 2016.
- Valencia point guard Kevin Pangos spent two seasons with Barcelona, from 2018 to 2020. He was a teammate there of Alex Abrines.
- Pangos was a teammate of Barcelona's Oriol Pauli at Gran Canaria during the 2015-16 season.
- Barcelona forward Nikola Kalinic played for Valencia during the 2020-21 season.
- Kalinic was a teammate of Valencia's Stefan Jovic at Crvena Zvezda Belgrade for the 2014-15 season and on the Serbian national team. They won silver medals together at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio and also at the 2014 Basketball World Cup.
- In Round 9, Valencia's Xabi Lopez-Arostegui had a career-high 7 rebounds in 74-70 loss agains Barcelona.
- Alex Abrines had a career-high 6 assists in Barcelona's 85-71 win over Valencia last April.
- Last season in Valencia, Barcelona's Nicolas Laprovittola scored a career-high 28 points in an 84-83 loss.