2025 Copa del Rey de Baloncesto

The 2025 Copa del Rey de Baloncesto was the 89th edition of the Spanish Basketball King's Cup. It was managed by the ACB and was held in Las Palmas, in the Gran Canaria Arena in February 2025.
Real Madrid was the defending champion, which was overcame in the final by Unicaja, which achieved their third cup, after those achieved in 2005 and 2023. With this title, the team from Málaga conquered their third title consecutive of the season after the super cup and the Intercontinental Cup.
All times are in Central European Time (UTC+01:00).
On June 3, 2024, ACB selected and announced Las Palmas to host the Copa del Rey in February 2025. The arena, opened in 2014 by then Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, has a capacity of 9,870 spectators and is the home arena of Dreamland Gran Canaria that will be the host team of the tournament. The first game in Gran Canaria Arena was the 28th regular season round of the 2013–14 ACB season between Herbalife Gran Canaria and FC Barcelona, played on 1 May 2014. The arena was built with the aim of hosting one of the groups of the preliminary round of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup. It hosted previously the Copa del Rey in 2015 and 2018, and the Supercopa Endesa in 2017.
The top seven ranking teams after the first half of the 2024–25 ACB regular season qualified to the tournament. As Dreamland Gran Canaria, host team, finished between the seven first teams, the eighth qualified entered the Copa del Rey.
The draw was held on 21 January 2025 in Auditorio Alfredo Kraus in Las Palmas, Spain. The top four ranking teams act as seeded teams in the draw of the quarterfinals. For its part, Unicaja as the top ranked team will play its quarterfinal match on Thursday. Two Canarian sports stars act as innocent hands: the former basketball player Leonor Rodríguez, who recently announced her retirement from professional basketball, and the former footballer Juan Carlos Valerón.
Unicaja's physical superiority and choral game demolished Joventut's hopes in the quarterfinals, which held in during the first half, but was unable to respond to a 31–19 run in the third quarter at the Gran Canaria Arena. The temporary absence of Sam Dekker, which was the top scorer of the match with 23 points, was decisive. He missed the last six minutes of the third quarter after receiving an elbow from Dylan Osetkowski in the fight for a rebound. The team from Málaga, which was more aggressive in defense with 12 steals and more strength solid on the rebound, took advantage of this moment to seal the victory with the outstanding contribution of Kendrick Perry (12 points), Tyson Pérez (14 points), Osetkowski (18 points) and Kameron Taylor (14 points).
Unicaja performed 28 assists beating the record of assists in the tournament history.
This was the second cup meeting between these two teams, with Unicaja winning the previous meeting.
Marcelo Huertas, who at 41 years, 8 months and 16 days became the oldest player to play in a Copa del Rey match, led his team's comeback to eliminate Barça and qualify for semifinal against Unicaja at the Gran Canaria Arena. The Brazilian performed 6 assists and 22 points, of which 12 points were scored in a final quarter of undisputed Canarian dominance (25–13), against a Catalan team that broke the record for scoring in a first quarter of the tournament (23–33), but faded after the break, weighed down by the injury of Kevin Punter in the third quarter despite the contribution of Tomáš Satoranský (17 points). It was the triumph of perseverance and faith for La Laguna Tenerife, which never gave up despite fighting the entire match against them and, cheered on by the crowd, completed the comeback under the management of Huertas, who was well supported by Fran Guerra (14 points).
This was the fourth cup meeting between these two teams, with Barça winning the previous three meetings.
Real Madrid began with the aim to win back the Copa del Rey title with a clear win in the quarterfinals against Baxi Manresa, which trailed on the scoreboard from the second half onwards and were unable to display their dynamic style of play at any time. The team coached by Chus Mateo, winner of the tournament in seven of the last 13 editions and finalist in 10 of the 11 most recent seasons, took over the second quarter with a partial score of 23-8, supported by the intimidation of Serge Ibaka and the points of Mario Hezonja, which finished as the top scorer of the match with 24 points. The team coached by Diego Ocampo, with lack of success at the three-pointer (4/26) and were unable to show its high pace of play, hinted at a slight improvement after the halftime, which was stopped by four consecutive three-pointers from Hezonja and Sergio Llull (13 points), thus sealing a solvent win to Los Blancos.
This was the fifth cup meeting between these two teams, with Real Madrid winning three out of the first four meetings.
Dreamland Gran Canaria qualified for the semifinals of the Copa del Rey, which it hosts, after overcoming Valencia Basket in an intense quarterfinal duel in which the host team imposed its defense to the Valencian crew. Mike Tobey stood out for the Canarian team with 19 points and 7 rebounds, deactivating the versatility of Jean Montero, which performed 15 points and 5 assists, which was not enough to avoid the host team win.
This was the sixth cup meeting between these two teams, with Valencia Basket winning four out of the first five meetings.
Unicaja qualified for the fifth time in its history for the Copa del Rey final, after beating in the semifinals La Laguna Tenerife, which suffered due to the physical output in the paint showed by Yankuba Sima, who performed 21 points and 8 rebounds, counteracting the 18 points and 4 assists performed by Marcelo Huertas.
This was the sixth cup meeting between these two teams, with Unicaja winning three out of the first five meetings.
Real Madrid, which act as the defending champion, ended the dream of the host team, Dreamland Gran Canaria, which were defeated to certify the return of Los Blancos to the final, in which it will face against Unicaja at the Gran Canaria Arena. The team coached by Chus Mateo, which will play the title match for the 11th time in the last 12 editions, skillfully overcame an unsuccessful start and grew as the clock advanced under the leadership of Facundo Campazzo (13 points and 8 assists), helped by Mario Hezonja (14 points ) and the final appearance of Sergio Llull (12), who decided the duel in the second half.
This was the fifth cup meeting between these two teams, with Real Madrid winning the first four meetings.
Unicaja snatched the crown from Real Madrid, which were defeated at the Gran Canaria Arena by the team from Málaga to return to win the title again two years later, led by Kendrick Perry (27 points, 6/7 on three-pointers and 8 assists) and David Kravish (20 points and 5/6 on three-pointers). Between them, they scored 26 of the Andalusian team's 29 points in the last quarter, in an exhibition at the decisive moment that decided an intense final dominated by Unicaja, in which Los Blancos were overcome by the energy of its rival (17 turnovers), which was in the final for the fifth time and won the trophy for the third time. As in the 2005 final and the 2023 semifinal, Unicaja had to defeat Real Madrid, the most successful team in the competition, that came close to winning its 30th title and ended up bowing down, as it did last September in the super cup final in a new success for the project built by the coach Ibon Navarro.
This was the sixth cup meeting between these two teams, with Real Madrid winning three out of the first five meetings.
Source: ACB
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