LILLE (France) - The idea behind the creation of the Basketball Champions League was to increase the level of competition in Europe. Eight years later, it's safe to say the plan is working, given the number of current and former BCL players and coaches at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Marcelinho Huertas is using the Olympics as just another stage to show his incredible longevity.
Coming in as the BCL MVP of the Season, the 41-year-old La Laguna Tenerife point guard had plenty of nice things to say about the BCL helping him maintain a high level through the years.
"Year by year, BCL has been showing improvements. The level of competition has been tremendous, we can name a lot of players who are here with the national team, and being at the Olympics shows the level of (the BCL) as a competition," the Brazilian started his answer.
"We're just lucky to be able to play in such competitions. The progress is clear, not only for us as players, we feel like the level is harder and harder to reach success each year. Hopefully it's still increasing, you know the great players love competition, and the harder it is, the better it tastes."
Along with Marcelinho Huertas, Brazil also have Vitor Benite on their roster, who won the BCL twice with Hereda San Pablo Burgos, including picking up the MVP of the Final 8 award in 2021.
Huertas could not add another title to his name in 2024, because Unicaja were too strong for Tenerife in the championship game in Belgrade in April.
The current champs are represented with two members at the Olympics, Melvin Ejim being the most experienced player on a star-studded Canada roster, while Spain is impossible to think of without Alberto Diaz on their roster.
Two more players from BCL Season 8 are on Greece's roster. Vasilis Charalampopoulos played for Dinamo BDS Sassari, while Nikos Chougkaz made the Final Four with Peristeri bwin last season.
Both of them are coached by another award winner. Vassilis Spanoulis is having the time of his life as a coach, he won the BCL Coach of the Season in April, and got Greece back to the Olympics after a 16-year long drought.
The remaining two players who were a part of the 2023-24 BCL season are double teammates. Isaiah Pineiro and Arnaldo Toro both played for the Latvian champs VEF Riga, and are both here with Puerto Rico in 2024.
The list of former BCL players is even bigger. Giannoulis Larentzakis is the man who scored the first ever bucket in the new European competition, wearing AEK's jersey back in 2016-17.
His teammates Dimitrios Moraitis and Vasileios Toliopoulos were also AEK's players in BCL, with Moraitis also playing for Peristeri, while Toliopoulos had another run with PAOK, too.
Thomas Walkup is another big name on Greece's roster. He was a part of MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg's historical run from the Qualifiers to the Final Four in 2018.
Dario Brizuela is her with Spain, reunited with his favorite teammate Alberto Diaz. Brizuela played the BCL back in 2017-18 with Estudiantes, plus another two season with Unicaja from 2021-23.
France have a former BCL guy in Frank Ntilikina, who was drafted to the NBA after his run with SIG Strasbourg in 2016-17.
Germany brought Johannes Thiemann to Paris 2024, he was also a part of Ludwigsburg's aforementioned memorable run in 2018, alongside Walkup. Niels Giffey played just one BCL game in his career, with UCAM Murcia in 2022.
Aside from Pineiro and Toro, Puerto Rico also have Jordan Howard on their roster, a former SIG Strasbourg player from 2021-22.
Aleksa Avramovic was a young talented scorer back in 2016-17 when he was in the BCL with Varese, growing up to become one of the best defenders in the world and making his way into Serbia's starting lineup ahead of the Olympics.
Finally, South Sudan have been the feel good story of the past two years in global basketball. Nuni Omot has BCL experience under his belt as a former Tofas Bursa player.