Izan Almansa Leaves Real Madrid for Gonzaga

The departure that had been announced since May is now official. Real Madrid and Izan Almansa have agreed to end their time together at the club, according to the white club's statement, which thanks the player for his commitment during the season he wore the shirt and wishes him luck in his new chapter.

The statement does not mention the destination, but it has been known since spring: Gonzaga. The power forward from Murcia committed to the Spokane university in May, as Óscar Herreros reported, and only his eligibility resolution and formal departure from the club were pending, which has now been completed today.

A brief chapter and against the grain

His second stint at Madrid lasted exactly one year. Almansa returned to the club in the summer of 2025, after going undrafted, with a long-term contract and the label of a future prospect. Reality proved more stubborn: with Tavares and company ahead of him, he barely found residual minutes in the ACB, although in the Liga U he was among the best in the category and even made the All-Young Team of the Liga Endesa.

Head coach Sergio Scariolo had made the diagnosis months earlier: he had learned and improved a lot, he said, but in a team like this it's difficult to find minutes in the EuroLeague, and his next step should be somewhere where he could play.

Why the NCAA, and why this will happen again

The chosen destination explains a trend that is reshaping the European market. Since the regulatory change that allows paying college athletes through image rights, the NCAA offers young Europeans figures they wouldn't earn here, and the exodus is already a steady trickle: Michael Ruzic to LSU from Joventut, Saliou Niang from Virtus, Mouhamed Faye from Paris, Brice Dessert from Efes. Almansa is the most prominent name on the Spanish list.

In Spokane, a familiar ecosystem awaits him. He will play under Mark Few, recently inducted into the Hall of Fame, with Spanish coach Jorge Sanz on the coaching staff and Mario Saint-Supéry in the locker room... although the point guard from Málaga just signed with Valencia, so that coincidence, announced in May, will no longer happen. What is expected is that Madrid will register him in their right of first refusal, the same formula that allowed them to recover Eli John Ndiaye this summer.

First, the national team

There is a calendar detail that is not minor: Almansa is on Chus Mateo's list for the FIBA window that starts on the 24th, with games against Portugal in Zaragoza and Greece in Athens. His first appearance after the split will, therefore, be in red.

At 21 years old and MVP of the U-17 and U-19 World Championships, the Murcian has already accumulated a trajectory as singular as it is restless: Overtime Elite, G League Ignite, Perth Wildcats, Real Madrid and now the NCAA. He has three years of college eligibility remaining and an unfinished account that doesn't change: the draft that slipped away from him in 2025.