Lucas Sáez-Bravo Madrid

Madrid

Updated Thursday, March 14, 2024-22:40

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March advances, not even a month and a half remains until the Euroleague quarterfinals cross, a little more than two until the Final Four in Berlin and the start of the ACB playoffs.

The party is approaching and Real Madrid, one could conclude, approaches it in a formal suit and glitter in its hair.

He won the two official competitions that were held this year, the Super Cup to whet your appetite and the Cup just a few weeks ago (both in the final against Barça).

He is a leader with a good cushion in Europe, where it seems difficult for anyone to take first place from him, much less the home court factor.

And also in the Endesa League, although he is stalked by that amazing Unicaja that he faces on Sunday at Carpena.

Chus Mateo

's Madrid arrives

apparently pristine at the moment of truth, with no serious injuries either, although you only need to look a little closer to notice a wrinkle in his shirt.

Their basketball is not that of the dawn of the season - the circulation, the defense, the rebound, the freshness... -, the defeats accumulate (especially in the Euroleague, three in a row, the last two in the WiZink) and some gestures are they twist

But, above all (and perhaps that is the reason for the slump), what worries the fan is the uncertainty: half of the squad and the coach are out of contract in a few months.

Salary containment was always the club's norm, following the pattern applied to football.

But what draws powerful attention is the stagnation in the operations to be closed.

Because those who threaten to leave are the pillars of the squad.

Only

Facundo Campazzo, Gaby Deck and Gerschon Yabusele

, among the key players in Mateo's rotation, have a signed contract for the following season.

Without being official, it also seems that

Dzanan Musa

will continue (as was advanced by his own agent, the powerful

Misko Ranatovic

, for one more year with an exit clause for the NBA).

But

Tavares, Hezonja, Poirier, Causeur, Rudy Fernández, Sergio Rodríguez and Sergio Llull

remain without renewal.

The scenarios are diverse.

As for the nationals, there are no conflicts in sight.

Captain Llull will continue and Rudy and Chacho too if they do not decide to retire, something that seems more than likely at the end of the year: the forward, who has his sights set on his sixth Games (something unprecedented) as a culmination, will be 39 years old, and the point guard 38.

Fabien Causeur

's age

, approaching 37, also works against him, although he continues to respond on the court - now as a defensive specialist - every time he is required.

The other three cases are the most thorny and also add an underlying problem, that of quotas in basketball.

Hezonja, last Sunday against Tenerife.Daniel GonzalezEFE

As this newspaper has learned, the talks for the renewal of Edy Tavares have remained in a kind of stalemate since last summer: there are contacts and good intentions, but the agreement does not come.

The best center in Europe, the most decisive player, wants a boost to his salary according to his performance.

He has no shortage of girlfriends, not even in the NBA, which he has not stopped watching since he left, although he has not started any external negotiations, despite the rumors.

In favor of his continuity, the Cape Verdean's attachment to the club and the city plays a role, where in a few weeks he hopes that his second child will be born (it will be a girl).

Like Tavares, Mario Hezonja (due to his training in the Barça youth team) has a place.

But his case is completely opposite: the Croatian seems to have packed his bags a long time ago.

He never hid his love for Panathinaikos, which tempted him with a million-dollar offer that Madrid did not seem willing to match.

His salary is not in line with his performance: Mario arrived from UNICS with a two-year contract as a market opportunity after the outbreak of war in Ukraine and the expulsion of the Russian team from the Euroleague.

"And yes, Mario has character, but he is our Mario and we love him a lot," Llull came out last Sunday when another inappropriate gesture delved deeper into the wound of a player who is beginning to be considered lost.

Hezonja was the only member of the squad who was not present at the Bernabéu for the tribute for winning the Cup. There, in Malaga, he was also seen unhappily in the semi-finals and after the title he was the first to leave the locker room.

He is not one of those who hides his anger.

His character, like his talent, is unique, for better and worse.

Poirier, against Fenerbahçe. JUANJO MARTINEFE

Vincent Poirier

is the other key player not renewed and the agreement does not seem close either.

An operation that seems linked to what happens with Tavares.

The Frenchman, always in the shadow of his colleague ("she loves him, they love each other a lot"), would be a starter in 90% of the Euroleague teams and suitors, as in the other cases, are not lacking either.

Mateo recently spoke about this tidal wave of uncertainties, and his continuity is not assured either.

«What is going to continue for sure is Real Madrid, regardless of who is there.

People will leave, people have left, people will come... and Real Madrid basketball is going to continue up there whoever is there," he admitted.

Beyond how complicated it would be to fill the gaps of such absences, Madrid faces another more bureaucratic problem: it needs quotas for national players.

Currently he only has two guaranteed for the next season (

Abalde and Alocén

), who could be joined by youth players

Hugo González and Eli Ndiaye

, increasingly integrated into the first team, and even Sergio Llull.

But with only five the panorama would be unsustainable.

So other names appear in the accounts of the future.

That of Usman Garuba

sounds loud

, whose return to Europe calls for logic after another blank season in the NBA.

And also that of

Juancho Hernangómez

.

Although he has one more year on his contract at Panathinaikos, the possible arrival of Hezonja would facilitate his termination.

A kind of barter.

Because there are not many more desirable nationals on the market (

Juan Núñez

has one more year in Ulm and will explore his options in the draft, and

Jaime Pradilla

renewed with Valencia).