MIES (Switzerland) - Along with the social media trend of realizing 2016 was 10 years ago, the Basketball Champions League, powered by Ameresco SUNEL also went down the memory lane.
Throughout our decade long history, we have witnessed incredible stories, crazy game endings, underdogs going all the way and players taking full advantage of the stage lights.
In our BCL Alumni series, we're thinking back to the superstars who shaped their careers through this competition, and earned respect worldwide.
Chima Moneke
Back in 2021-22, BAXI Manresa were the feel good story of all international basketball, reaching the championship game in the BCL with a group of hard working players under Pedro Martinez's guidance.
The one who stood out - in more ways than one - was Chima Moneke. Then a rookie in international competitions, Chima took the BCL world by storm, earning the MVP of the Season award and a ticket to the NBA, signing with the Sacramento Kings the following summer.
Moneke then moved to AS Monaco and Saski Baskonia, before finding home in Belgrade with Crvena Zvezda.
Sylvain Francisco
Another piece of the puzzle for BAXI Manresa in 2021-22 was Sylvain Francisco, who stayed in the BCL for another season, testing the waters in Greece with Peristeri.
If we had the Most Improved Player award, he would've been a favorite to win it, taking his averages from 11.8 points, 3.2 assists and 1.1 steals in Manresa to 16.2 points, 5.8 assists and 1.8 steals with Peristeri.
Francisco then moved to Bayern in Germany, and has been a part of Zalgiris since 2024. A crucial part, actually, named the MVP of the LKL Finals.
Mario Chalmers
While players like Moneke and Francisco were new names when they entered the BCL, here's a case of somebody showing up with a resume like few others.
Mario Chalmers was already a two-time NBA champion with the Miami Heat, NCAA champion and the Most Outstanding Player with the Kansas Jayhawks and a worldwide star when Segafredo Virtus Bologna signed him in 2019.
His experience proved to be crucial at the Final Four, as Virtus snatched the title in Antwerp with Chalmers getting clutch buckets.
He later played the BCL with AEK BC, too, before finishing his European adventure with another full season at Aris.
Amar'e Stoudemire
Arguably, the biggest name to ever play in the BCL. The list of his career accolades goes on and on, but let's just focus on six NBA All Star appearances, All-NBA First Team selection in 2007, nearly 16,000 career points and his #32 being retired by the Phoenix Suns.
Stoudemire joined Hapoel Bank Yahav Jerusalem in 2016-17, then retired for a season, before coming back to Jerusalem, this time in the BCL, too.
Through 18 games that season, Amar'e averaged 12.1 points and 5.7 rebounds, proving he could still be a difference maker. He went on to sign with Fujian Xunxing in China before finishing his playing career at Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2020.
Tyrese Rice
While Stoudemire had an incredible list of accomplishments in the NBA, Tyrese Rice has dominated the European basketball in the 2010s like few others.
Rice was a EuroLeague champion and Final Four MVP in 2014, then the MVP of the Season and the Finals in EuroCup a year later, and after claiming the EuroLeague and the EuroCup, he came close to winning the BCL twice.
In 2019, he led Brose Bamberg to their sole Final Four appearance, winning the BCL MVP of the Season award. A year later, he played the Final 8 with AEK BC in Athens, averaged 15.7 points and 4.7 assists in three games, but came up just short, losing the championship game to San Pablo Burgos.
The Final 8 he played in the BCL turned out to be the last tournament of his incredible professional career, as he retired immediately afterwards.
TJ Shorts II
Speaking of high scoring incredibly talented lefty point guards, here's TJ Shorts II for you!
Telekom Baskets Bonn's leader made history in 2023, becoming the first person to win the MVP of the Season and the Final Four MVP award in the same campaign, taking Bonn on a sublime run which finished with the German club lifting our spiky trophy in Malaga.
Shorts then followed his coach Tuomas Iisalo to Paris, winning the EuroCup as well, while also claiming all the possible MVP awards both in France and internationally.
In 2024-25, he carried Paris to their first French League championship, again as MVP, and during the summer made a move to Panathinaikos. Not bad for a player who once had a total of zero (yes, 0) scholarship offers in high school...
Bonzie Colson
Back in 2020-21, SIG Strasbourg had their best result in BCL, reaching the Semi-Finals and having the MVP of the Season.
That man is Bonzie Colson, an incredible forward who collected 18.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game across 14 appearances during that run, culminating in the upset of the season as SIG eliminated La Laguna Tenerife in the Quarter-Finals.
Colson then stayed in the BCL for another year, getting 15.0 points per game for Pinar Karsiyaka, before moving to Maccabi Tel Aviv for a couple of seasons.
Since 2024, Bonzie is a member of Fenerbahce, shooting an incredible 52 percent from beyond the arc in EuroLeague this season.
Kyle Guy
In line with hot shooting, Kyle Guy's run in the BCL was one of the hottest we've ever witnessed. He signed with La Laguna Tenerife in January 2024, completely taking over and averaging 21.5 points in 11 BCL appearances.
Guy had a number of crazy games, but the best one was probably in the Semi-Finals at the Final Four in Belgrade, when he poured in 34 points to see off Peristeri and book a Final date with Unicaja.
Tenerife lost the Final, but Guy still had a solid performance with 18 points. That was his last game in the BCL, and after that season, he announced retirement at 27 years of age.
But that shooting hand could not stand still for a long time. He returned to professional basketball in 2025, signing a contract with the Indiana Pacers and their NBA G League affiliate Noblesville Boom.
Jae'Sean Tate
Through the decade of BCL, we've had plenty of Cinderella stories, teams reaching the closing stages when they were considered the underdogs.
The Antwerp Giants are a perfect example, storming to an unlikely Final Four appearance in 2019. One of the main reasons for that: Jae'Sean Tate.
It turned out it was the only European season for Jae'Sean, averaging 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds in the BCL Qualifying Round Tournament, then following it up with 12.2 points and 5.1 rebounds in 20 games of the Regular Season and the Play-Offs.
Tate then moved to the Sydney Kings, and singed with the Houston Rockets in 2020. He is still there six seasons later!
Kevin Punter
Every now and then, watching the BCL you will find a lethal player that you will fall in love with. Then you just wait for his big break, before you can go on saying "I told you!" to everybody around you.
Kevin Punter is that guy. Starting his BCL path with Rosa Radom in 2017-18, he averaged 20.6 points per game, and AEK BC were the first ones to dial his number.
In February of that same season, Punter signed with AEK, going on to win the BCL in front of a record crowd at the Final Four in Athens. He scored 16 points in the Final, then followed it up with a move to Virtus Bologna, getting another BCL title, and earning the Final Four MVP honors with the Italian giants.
Through his days at Partizan and now at Barcelona, he cemented his status as one of the best guards in Europe.
Thomas Walkup
Fitting into a system is one of the crucial aspects when a rookie is joining a European team. Thomas Walkup was just what John Patrick and Ludwigsburg needed, and Patrick's high octane defensive system was exactly what Walkup needed.
Then a rookie, Walkup carried MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg to the Final Four in Athens in 2018 with 11.9 points, 4.6 assists, 4.5 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game.
He then moved to Zalgiris and Olympiacos, becoming an Olympian with the Greek national team, winning six domestic titles and establishing himself as one of the toughest defender of the 2020s in international basketball.
Alperen Sengun
Nowadays, he's one of the biggest stars in all of basketball, but his journey to the top started right here, when he was just a teenager.
Alperen Sengun's first international competition was the BCL, as he got minutes across 15 games in 2019-20, averaging 6.6 points and 3.3 rebounds in 14.4 minutes per game.
He was a part of Bandirma's incredibly deep pool of talent, and most of that core moved to Besiktas in the following season, Alperen's last in Europe.
From 2021, he's been with the Houston Rockets, and has been around 20 points and 10 rebounds per game for the past three seasons. At 23 years of age, he's living up to all the hype around him when he was a 17-year-old rookie in the BCL.