Lazar Spasic, Sabah’s new head coach, spoke to Basketball Sphere about the plans, ambitions, and goals he has with his new club.
One of Serbia’s most promising young coaches will spend the next three seasons aiming to establish Sabah as a club with a prestigious standing on the European stage.
Despite being just 34 years old, Lazar Spasic has already put together a highly successful coaching career. He finished the 2024/2025 season atop the KLS (Serbian League) standings as the head coach of Vrsac before embarking on the next chapter of his career as an assistant coach at Oldenburg.
Following a string of poor results at the start of last season, Oldenburg parted ways with head coach Predrag Krunic, with Lazar Spasic stepping in as his replacement. The Serbian coach managed to stabilize the team and steer it clear of the threat of relegation from the Bundesliga.
The team’s positive response after Spasic took over as head coach of Oldenburg did not go unnoticed. A number of clubs expressed interest in his services, with Sabah emerging as the most determined suitor. At the end of the 2025/2026 season, it was officially confirmed that the Azerbaijani club would begin a new chapter under Lazar Spasic’s leadership.
Sabah BC
At the beginning of the interview, we spoke with Lazar Spasic about his first impressions after reaching an agreement with Sabah.
,,My first impressions have been extremely positive. I was pleasantly surprised by both the city and the club’s structure, which has clearly demonstrated its ambition and the direction it wants to grow in. At first glance, many people probably wouldn’t associate Azerbaijan with basketball, but we live in a time when things change quickly, and basketball here is evolving as well.
Everything depends on us. The most important thing is to build a strong foundation and establish a high-quality system. I don’t want to put pressure on my staff or anyone around the team. Instead, I want us to stay humble and improve every single day through hard work. That’s the path we need to follow if we want to achieve strong results.”
Why did you decide that Sabah would be the next destination in your coaching career, and did you have offers from other clubs as well?
,,The main reason I chose Sabah was the sporting challenge. That was my top priority. Second came the environment where my family would live and feel comfortable, and third was the financial aspect.
The sporting motivation is huge. The club will compete in the Basketball Champions League next season, and of course, the length of the contract was also an important factor.
As for interest from other clubs, I honestly don’t know what the market looked like because I never really put myself on the market. At that point, all of my focus, ambitions, and thoughts were fully dedicated to Oldenburg.
Everything regarding Sabah happened very quickly afterward. Once it was officially announced that I was leaving Oldenburg, two serious clubs contacted me within the next 48 hours with the intention of hiring me. However, they didn’t know that I had already reached an agreement with Sabah” – Lazar Spasic said.
The club’s vision
Sabah emerged in European basketball four years ago as one of the fastest-rising clubs. Its success season after season is a clear reflection of the work being done throughout the organization, something Spasic discussed in greater detail later in the interview.
,,The club is still very young, having been founded in 2022. Since its inception, it has won the national championship every single season. Over the past three years, Sabah has played a major role in the development of basketball in Azerbaijan. The best proof of that is the fact that three Azerbaijani clubs will compete in European competitions next season, with a fourth set to play in the FIBA Europe Cup qualifiers.
Sabah has demonstrated a high level of ambition, investment, and organization in every aspect. What I particularly like is the amount of room the club still has to grow and continue developing.
Another important move this summer was the appointment of General Manager Lukas Grabauskas, who was the youngest GM in the EuroCup last season. I expect him to have a direct impact on raising the club’s standards even further off the court, although I already believe the organization operates at a very high level.”
About the club’s vision for the years ahead…
,,Sabah is a club with a clear vision. Their priority is competing in Europe and representing the club in the best possible way on that stage. The fact that they signed me to a three-year contract clearly reflects the direction they want to take. They’ve shown that they want a young coach who can grow and develop alongside the club. Together, we want to present Azerbaijani basketball in the best possible light.
In our conversations, the club president made it very clear that he understands what progress means, what sport is about, and, most importantly, the value of time in building something successful. It’s extremely important that the club’s leadership is committed to the process.”
Baku
Lazar Spasic also shared his thoughts on Baku as a place to live, as well as the potential of both the city and the club.
,,I was in contact with Sabah about joining the coaching staff a year and a half, maybe two years ago, so I had already done some research on Baku back then. It’s a city experiencing remarkable growth and development.
Located on the shores of the Caspian Sea, it has tremendous potential, just like the club itself. I’m genuinely excited that my family and I will be calling it home for the next three years. The city’s potential naturally creates great opportunities for the club as well.
My goal isn’t just to contribute to Sabah’s success, but also to help the overall development of basketball in Azerbaijan. Of course, we have to take it step by step to get a clearer picture of where everything can go. I have a very positive feeling about this challenge, and I’m truly looking forward to the start of my journey there.”
In the next part of the interview, we discussed the roster construction for the upcoming season, as well as Spasic’s collaboration with the club’s basketball operations staff, including the front office and coaching staff.
,,We finalized our roster about two weeks ago. We’re only looking to add one more player (domestic player) at the power forward position. I’m very satisfied with the budget we have at our disposal, it is highly competitive for the Basketball Champions League level. When you have the necessary financial resources, many things become easier. We’ve assembled a very respectable team, signing eight foreign players while building around a strong domestic core, which clearly reflects the club’s ambitions.
Our goal is to make a step forward on the European stage. We’re calmly wrapping up the offseason and preparing to get to work when preseason begins on August 9.
My relationship with our General Manager and the coaching staff has been outstanding. I truly enjoy working with young people, who make up the core of our basketball operations. We’ll do everything we can to justify the trust the club has placed in us.
My relationship with Lukas is excellent, we’ve clearly defined our goals and vision. He’ll be responsible for building the system off the court, while I’ll focus on building it on the court.
Hopefully, once those two come together, everything will function at a very high level. At the end of the day, I don’t believe results are everything, but in this case, they will ultimately be the only true measure of how well we’ve done our job.”
The Season 11 champ is in one of these groups – which one will they emerge from? 🍿#BasketballCL pic.twitter.com/Q0aXJVTO0Y
— Basketball Champions League (@BasketballCL) July 8, 2026
Lazar Spasic shared his expectations for the upcoming season with us.
,,We have to stay humble, keep a low profile, work in peace, and focus on ourselves. Our primary focus must always be on who we are and what we’re building, with our opponents coming second. Within our system, we need to create solutions that allow us to respond to every tactical challenge our opponents put in front of us.
The focus has to be on improving every single day, growing together as a group and as a team. By building a great atmosphere and strong chemistry, we can bring out the best in ourselves, and that’s what will ultimately lead us to good results.”
Sabah will compete in Group A of the Basketball Champions League next season, alongside Nanterre, Rytas, and Trabzon.
,,It’s a very tough group. As a fourth-seeded team, we probably ended up drawing the strongest possible opponent from the top seed, a club with tremendous ambitions. There isn’t much that needs to be said about last season’s champion, or about Nanterre either.
Objectively, we’re the underdogs, but the court is the only place that matters, and it will show exactly where we stand. We don’t want to make too much noise. We’ll stay humble, work hard, and do everything we can to reach the second phase of the competition.
We have to take it one step at a time, work smart, and be fearless. The Basketball Champions League is a sprint, not a marathon, and I hope we’ll be fully prepared from day one to surprise a lot of people.”
