Pablo Laso leaves the Bayern Munich bench for “family reasons” and signs for Baskonia | Basketball | Sports

The circle of Pablo Laso (Vitoria, 57 years old) closes in his hometown. Who was one of the figures of Baskonia in the eighties and nineties, now returns as coach for the next three seasons, to follow in the footsteps of his father, Pepe Laso, who was also a player in the Vitorian team in the sixties, and coach, who even had his son under his command, between 1985 and 1987, who continues the family saga. Pablo returns as a successful coach after his time at Real Madrid, in which he won two Euroleagues, six ACB Leagues and six Copas del Rey as well as seven Super Cups and an Intercontinental Cup from 2011 to 2022, when he left the white club after suffer a heart attack. The Madrid club then decided to terminate its working relationship with Laso, because, “not even Real Madrid is above anyone’s health, and in this case it is a risk that this institution cannot avoid.” A year later, Laso signed as coach for Bayern Munich, with whom he won the League and the German Cup, but he was far from entering the playoff of the Euroleague.

Although they had trusted him for a longer project and he had a contract for at least one more season, the Bavarian club announced unexpectedly early on Friday that “for personal reasons” Pablo Laso was leaving the club. “Pablo’s personal decision surprised us, but we respect him a lot as a coach and as a person and now we have to thank him very much for his work and his great commitment during the successful last season,” said Marko Pesic, the club’s general manager. Just a couple of hours later, Baskonia announced the signing of the coach through social media.

Pablo Laso’s story in Vitoria began when his father, from Madrid, who had retired as a player at Real Madrid when he was only 22 years old, and had begun his career as a coach, received a call from Javier Añua, one of the fathers of basketball. Vitoriano, who convinced him to leave his job at his father’s business, dress in shorts and sign for the Kas team. He played there from the age of 24 to 32. He had been international at the age of 19 and was again at the age of 30. When the soft drink company, for strategic reasons, decided to move the team to Bilbao, he did not change address and resumed his career as a coach at Baskonia, recently promoted to First division.

By then Pablo had already been born, he began playing for San Viator, went to study for a year in the United States and when he returned he signed for Caja de Álava, the commercial name of Baskonia, where he played for eleven seasons, wore the blue and red shirt in 370 games, provided 1,951 assists and lifted the first Copa del Rey title in the club’s history as MVP.

Like his father, he also played for Real Madrid for two seasons. Retired at the Valladolid Forum, he began his career as a coach at Amics del Bàsquet, in the LEB League; Later he directed Valencia, Cantabria and Gipuzkoa Basket, with which he was promoted to the ACB league. In 2011, his signing for Real Madrid was announced, where he enjoyed a decade of constant success. As Baskonia indicates in its announcement, Laso is the most successful coach in the world of Spanish basketball in the last 15 years, after winning 22 titles with Real Madrid. He has extensive experience with 583 games coached in the domestic competition and 376 in the Euroleague. The entity chaired by Josean Querejeta thus acquires a coach of unquestionable prestige a month after ending Dusko Ivanovic’s fourth stage at the head of the team.

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