Zalgiris end 18 year drought with third NextGen title
Zalgiris Kaunas collected the trophy at the 2025 Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Finals - conquering Europe for the third time, and the first since 2007. Here a look back at the long weekend in Abu Dhabi.
The power of Lithuanian green is back as Zalgiris Kaunas finally returned to the top of European youth basketball by capturing the 2025 Adidas NextGen EuroLeague title as the best U18 team on the continent.
This is a review of the NextGen Finals - which took the European basketball world to Abu Dhabi - looking at things on and off the court.
After much wait, the announcement finally came down … the 2025 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Final Four would be taking place in Abu Dhabi - and with it the Adidas NextGen EuroLeague Finals.
Euroleague made the announcement on January 28, 2025 and we already were halfway through the qualifying - with Mega Belgrade having won the NextGen Istabul event in December 2024 and the Next Gen Team Munich surprising some by winning the Munich event in January - downing two-time reigning champs Real Madrid in the final game of the group stage.
The final two qualifiers followed with FC Barcelona knocking off Zalgiris in the first place game in the Ulm event in early February and Pole France INSEP Paris winning the Belgrade qualifier by defeating EA7 Emporio Armani Milan in the first place game in early March.
About a month later, the stage was set as the wild cards were announced.
Joining Mega, Barcelona and INSEP for the May 22-25 spectacle were Dubai Basketball, the United Arab Emirates team playing in the competition for just the second season; Milan, who were playing in back-to-back Finals; Real Madrid - the record five-time winners; two-time winners Zalgiris; and USA-based Overtime Elite, joining the Finals field for the second straight time.
Before we delve into the action, here a couple of behind the scene tidbits.
TTC has been urging for many many years for the organizers to find a better solution to all the plastic water bottles used doing these tournaments. And it was downright thrilling to see that the NextGen Finals were different in that regard.
There were water dispensers for the teams to fill up their bottles - which were gifts by Euroleague. This was for the teams and all staff at the Mubadala Arena.
This NextGen Finals also included a Podcourt Show on YouTube in which David Hein participated as the NextGen “guru” or “wizard” or however he would be called and Shani Blatt and Dane Arlauskas were co-hosts in watching the games. Those watching the games on YouTube may have seen the court-side couches. That is where we watched the final two games on Saturday and the Championship Game.
One of the special features of the NextGen Finals is the Players Educational Session, where all the players from the teams gather to get some important insight on and off the court from former professionals. This time it was two-time EuroLeague champion Dogus Balbay and EuroLeague Players Association managing director Boki Nachbar discussing obstacles they faced along the way to their heights in their careers.
Zalgiris came to the NextGen Finals in Abu Dhabi as one of just six clubs with two or more junior championships. The others were Real Madrid, who had won the last two events; the only team to three-peat CSKA Moscow, who won from 2004 to 2006; the famous French academy INSEP; Rytas Vilnius of Lithuania and FMP Belgrade of Serbia.
Zalgiris had not tasted victory at Europe’s premier youth competition for quite some time. They won the first ever edition back in 2003 in Barcelona against Maccabi Tel Aviv and then lost in the Championship Game to CSKA in both 2005 and 2006. They finally managed to collect a second trophy in 2007.
Zalgiris were spearheaded in 2007 by the likes of Donatas Motiejunas, who was in Abu Dhabi as a player for EuroLeague Final Four participant AS Monaco. Motiejunas collected 20 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks in a 78-74 victory over Serbian club FMP Belgrade. Other players on the Zalgiris team 18 years ago were Ada Juskevicius, Siim-Sander Vene, Sarunas Vasiliauskas and Vytenis Lipkevicius.
That was so long ago that only seven of the 12 players who celebrated into the night in Abu Dhabi were not even born yet.
One of them was Dominykas Grunkis, who ended up being named Most Valuable Player for the tournament. The guard, who was only 3 months old when the club won in 2007, collected 11 points and 7 assists in the final. And he averaged 13.2 points on 53 percent three-point shooting, 2.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists to take home the individual trophy.
Zalgiris, who also reached the 2011 final but lost to Dario Saric, Mario Hezonja and KK Zagreb, were not highly touted as a title contender in Abu Dhabi among the eight teams hoping to win the 22nd edition of the NextGen Finals.
The top favorite coming in was FC Barcelona with German playmaking wing Mathieu Grujicic, who came up in the ALBA Berlin system. The Spanish giants’ hopes for a second crown filling 2016 albeit took a hit when captain and starting point guard Raul Villar was held back home in Barcelona to play for the pro team in their ACB game on Sunday at home versus 15th placed Girona. He ended up playing 20 minutes while picking up 0 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist in a 22-point blowout.
The other main favorite was INSEP, who had seven players back from the team that lost in a thrilling 85-84 overtime championship game last season to Real Madrid.
Real themselves had seven players back from the team that hoisted the trophy in Berlin, including German Declan Duru. New to the team this season was 2009-born prized German prospect Fabian Kayser, who left Paderborn last summer for the Spanish powerhouse. Real’s main flaw was a lack of scoring punch as they could not replenish the system after Hugo Gonzalez, Egor Demin, Mitar Bosnjakovic, Ismaila Diagne and Asier Migue all finished their junior careers.
Real’s aura of invisibility had been torn down though as they finished only third at the Munich qualifier. That snapped a streak of 11 seasons in which they won their qualifying tournament. Real also about three weeks before the Abu Dhabi Finals started lost to Barcelona 70-64 in the final of the Spanish U18 championship.
The presence of OTE - a selection of players from the U16 to U20 league based in Atlanta in the United States - gave the NextGen Finals the additional attraction of players who are very active and well-known on social media. The most famous of the OTE players was Taylen Kinney, who created a viral sensation with his phrase “6-7” and corresponding hand gestures. Emirate youngsters flocked to the OTE games and waited for autographs from Kinney and the other OTE players. Some of the had “6” and “7” written on their cheeks and called out “TK” and “6-7” to him during warmups and games.
OTE lost their first two games in the tournament in Group B - the second which secured Zalgiris’ advancement to the championship game after just two of three rounds of games. OTE were still motivated to win their last game in Abu Dhabi and beat Zalgiris thanks to 30 points from Kohl Rosario.
The versatile and athletic wing showcased his game on the court throughout the event but he showed why so many consider him a high quality character in the three-point contest on the final day of action. In the final decisive round, Rosario was tied with Mega’s Aleksa Stikovic with one ball to go, and he grabbed the ball, raced towards the basket and threw down a dunk so he and Stikovic could share the honor.
Zalgiris pulled off a surprise in their start to the tournament as they took down INSEP in overtime. They followed that with a thrilling 70-69 victory over Real. The Spaniards had become a boogeyman for Zalgiris, who had lost their last seven NextGen encounters dating back to the 2007-08 season.
In Group A, Barcelona were close to breaking a record for largest winning margin as they blew out Dubai 54 - the record was Barcelona beating ALBA Berlin by 72 points in 2024. Milan upended Mega and then surprised Barcelona 85-80 in a great game all around. Dubai for their part rebounded and upset Mega by 18 points to the surprise of all fans with Tomislav Vuckovic draining a NextGen record 9 three-pointers for 39 points. Milan almost were shocked in their final hurdle before the final but they outlasted Dubai 86-84 to reach the final - just the third Italian club to make it to the grand finale following Montepaschi Siena in 2004 and Stella Azzurra Rome in 2018.
Milan were more than deserved finalists with a team full of proven winners. The quintet of Diego Garavaglia, Achille Lonati, Omar Karem, Guglielmo Youssef and Giovanni Cortellino are all from the Milan region and been with the Milan club since the mini basket ranks at 9-10 years old. The team won the Italian U15 championship together as well as back-to-back U19 Italian championships. They couldn’t play the U17 Italian championship because it took place last year while Milan were at the NextGen Finals in Berlin.
Garavaglia, Lonati and Mattia Ceccato all played together for Italy at the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2023 and sensationally took second place. That trio was joined by the big man Luigi Suigo and helped Italy shock the world last summer and finish second at the FIBA U17 Basketball World Cup 2024 in Türkiye.
Zalgiris for their part had a number of players from Lithuania’s youth national team. Dovydas Buika was part of the team that won the FIBA U16 EuroBasket 2022 and returned to help the team reach the Semi-Finals in 2023. Buika then played at the FIBA U17 World Cup as well. Buika also played 13 games this season for Zalgiris in the first division and made his first two appearances in the EuroLeague.
Dominykas Daubaris was part of the U16 team in 2023, Majus Bulanovas played at the U17 World Cup and Kajus Mikalauskas competed at both. Grunkis meanwhile has yet to play for his country and two players from the 2008 generation - Ignas Stombergas (the son of former EuroLeague champion Salius Stombergas, Galius Cerneckis - played at last summer’s U16 EuroBasket.
The Championship Game ended up being decided by both teams’ main guys - with eight of the 10 starters playing at least 29 minutes. Lonati and Suigo combined for 47 points while Garavaglia was helped to 13 points after averaging 21 points in the group stage. Zalgiris had better distribution with five guys in double figures - topped by Mikalauskas’ 20 points while Bulanovas hit 5 three-pointers for 19 points. Zalgiris won 89-81.
Ilja Kurucs - the younger brother of former NBA player Rodions and Arturs Kurucs from Latvia - picked a great game for his best performance with 15 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals after totaling 18 points, 11 rebounds and 0 steals before that.
Zalgiris had done it. And one of the main characteristics of the team throughout the NextGen campaign was their mental strength. For example, they trailed LDLC ASVEL Villeurbanne by 20 points in the first half of the first game of the NextGen Ulm competition. They fought back and ended up winning by 14 points. And they showed that mental fortitude throughout the NextGen Finals as well.
One of reasons for that was the fact that the club management provided the team with a mental strength coach for the whole season. Salika Peucelle, the founder of the RIZE mental strength group, accompanied the Zalgiris team this season and was impossible to miss during games. Peucelle rooted on the team and boosted their morale and spirits to keep them ready for the tough moments.
In the end, it was Zalgiris who hoisted the trophy in Abu Dhabi - and the green of Lithuania once again reigned over Europe.
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