Pedro Martínez won the Gomelskiy Award as EuroLeague's best coach while directing Valencia and celebrated by leading his team to the Final Four. Two months later he signed with Real Madrid, who had lost the final against Olympiacos.
That sums up the white club's summer: the European runner-up has gone after the season's top coach, renewed Sergio Llull for his twentieth season in the competition, and signed seven players, three of them arriving from the NBA.
The Starting Point
The 2025-26 season came down to one game. Real Madrid finished third in the regular season with 24 wins and 14 losses, eliminated Hapoel Tel Aviv 3-1 in the quarterfinals, and reached the final in Athens, where they fell to Olympiacos.
Along the way, two individual performances explained the season. Facundo Campazzo was MVP of the second playoff game with a 30 rating, and Edy Tavares made the All-EuroLeague Second Team again, while also averaging 6.6 rebounds per game, third in the competition.
On the bench, Sergio Scariolo took over the team in July 2025 following Chus Mateo's departure. His tenure lasted just one season, ending with a lost final.
Who Left
Mario Hezonja departed for the Cleveland Cavaliers after being the Final Four's leading scorer with 44 points in two games, and Trey Lyles signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Two departures to the NBA that took much of the power forward production with them.
The paint also lost Ömer Yurtseven and Alex Len, who ended up joining Baskonia in September after rescinding due to injury. David Krämer went to Crvena Zvezda and Mady Sissoko to Beşiktaş.
From the academy, Izan Almansa, Gunars Grindvalds, and Ilia Frolov departed for American college basketball.
Who Arrives
Seven signings, split into two very different groups.
The first is established European players. Jaime Pradilla arrives from Valencia following Pedro Martínez, Mikael Jantunen lands from Fenerbahçe, and Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot from Baskonia, where he was the standout in the Copa del Rey final with 28 points against Madrid itself.
The second is bets from the United States. Max Shulga arrives from the Boston Celtics after dominating in the G League, Olivier Sarr comes from the Cleveland Cavaliers, Damian Jones joins the paint, and Nick Smith Jr. completes the perimeter rotation.
And above all, the bench signing: Pedro Martínez, EuroLeague Coach of the Year for 2025-26.
Who Stays
The core remains. Campazzo, Théo Maledon, Andrés Feliz, and Llull hold down the direction, and the Balearic native signs for his twentieth season in Europe's top competition, a historic record.
Also continuing are Gaby Deck, Alberto Abalde, Gabriele Procida, Chuma Okeke, Usman Garuba, and Tavares, who remains Europe's best defensive center.
The Keys
The coaching change. Martínez is a system coach, with highly worked offensive sets and daily demands. He arrives at a locker room with established hierarchies and players accustomed to a different way of doing things. The transition is never automatic, not even when the arrival comes fresh off winning Coach of the Year.
The power forward position, again. Hezonja and Lyles, who provided points and size, have left, and Pradilla, Jantunen, and Luwawu-Cabarrot arrive. More players, with more versatility and less individual scoring capacity. It will work if the system generates shots; if possessions need to be resolved in the post, it will show.
The paint is still Tavares. At 34 years old with accumulated wear, the Cape Verdean is still the team's defensive difference-maker. Sarr, Jones, Garuba, and Okeke split the remaining minutes, but none changes a game like he does. Managing his minutes through May is half the season.
The quantity of point guards. Campazzo, Maledon, Feliz, Llull, Shulga, and Smith. Six players for two positions, several with long contracts. There will be unhappy players starting in November.
The Forecast
Madrid is a contender, as almost always. They maintain the core that reached the final, have added depth across all lines, and signed the most valued coach from last season.
What they haven't done is sign a player who wins a game by himself. Hezonja was that in May and has gone to the NBA, and the club's bet is that Martínez's system compensates for that absence with distribution and volume.
The Final Four is the objective, and the roster is built for that. Winning the competition will depend on whether the team finds that reference point in April and how Tavares arrives at season's end. The club has set the bar itself: it already knows what it's like to come up one game short.
Full Roster
Point Guards and Shooting Guards: Facundo Campazzo (5'11"), Andrés Feliz (6'1"), Nick Smith Jr. (6'2"), Sergio Llull (6'3"), Théo Maledon (6'4"), Max Shulga (6'4"), Gaby Deck (6'6")
Small Forwards: Gabriele Procida (6'7"), Chuma Okeke (6'7"), Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot (6'7"), Alberto Abalde (6'8"), Usman Garuba (6'8"), Mikael Jantunen (6'9"), Jaime Pradilla (6'9")
Power Forwards and Centers: Damian Jones (6'10"), Olivier Sarr (6'11"), Walter Tavares (7'2")