With Granada almost relegated, as many as four teams are tied at nine wins and 21 losses. Four teams are fighting for survival over four remaining games, with several head-to-head matchups set to be decisive in determining who will be out of Liga Endesa next season: San Pablo Burgos, Zaragoza, Gran Canaria, and Andorra are the protagonists of a dramatic storyline whose unhappy ending is still unwritten.
*from Basketball Sphere correspondent in Spain, Javier Camello*
San Pablo Burgos will face its first major test this afternoon at home against Unicaja. Ibon Navarro’s team comes into the game after the club’s FIBA Champions League collapse and amid a tense situation involving disagreements between the coaching staff and Chris Duarte, which have resulted in the Dominican guard being sidelined. However, Unicaja is also fighting for a playoff berth, currently tied with Bilbao, coached by Jaume Ponsarnau, for the final postseason spot.
After that, Burgos will face a true survival showdown on the road against Andorra, a crucial matchup in the relegation battle. Next up is Joventut, led by Jabari Parker and Ricky Rubio, who are themselves fighting to improve playoff positioning. Their most manageable game on paper comes in the final round against Granada, already relegated and set to play its final Liga Endesa game until at least the 2027–28 season.
Andorra faces a very similar schedule, beginning this stretch of do-or-die games against Joventut. They will then need to defend home court against the aforementioned Burgos. After that key clash, they will face Lleida, a team comfortably sitting mid-table, before closing the season at home against Barcelona, who are still pushing to secure a top-three finish while taking advantage of being free from EuroLeague commitments and the fact that Valencia may already have its focus on Athens.
Valencia is, in fact, the next opponent for Zaragoza, or rather was, as the game had to be postponed due to Valencia’s European clash with Panathinaikos. Zaragoza will then travel to face Manresa, another side comfortably positioned in mid-table.
Their next challenge will be at home against Murcia, currently second in the standings and aiming to win out in order to secure home-court advantage through the Liga Endesa Finals if they make it that far.
To close the season, Zaragoza will visit Burgos, another team with nothing left to play for. It is difficult to believe that a club with the roster quality and history of Zaragoza finds itself in this position, but on paper they still have two winnable games to avoid relegation.
Another surprising team caught in this battle is Gran Canaria, which faces two extremely demanding matchups. The first comes today against archrival Tenerife, another team wounded after falling short in the FIBA Champions League Final Four. It will be a crucial home game.
Like the other teams involved, Gran Canaria also has two straight games against sides with little left to play for: Lleida and Manresa, which appear manageable on paper. Their other major challenge and final big test will come against Valencia at the Roig Arena following the Athens Final Four.
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Zaragoza holds an important advantage, having won the head-to-head tiebreaker against each of its three direct rivals, which would allow the team to survive in almost any multi-team tie scenario. At the opposite end, Burgos finds itself in a critical position: after losing the season series to Zaragoza, Burgos is essentially forced to win its “final” in Round 32 against Andorra by more than seven points to avoid relying on nearly impossible combinations of results.
Gran Canaria is also staring into the abyss because of a brutal remaining schedule and its disadvantage in the tiebreakers against both Burgos and Zaragoza. That makes the upcoming derby against Tenerife and the road trip to Lleida true do-or-die games, as the head-to-head criteria could ultimately seal their fate.
"Destiny… destiny belongs to the underdogs!"
— Basketball Sphere (@BSphere_) May 14, 2026
Valencia did exactly what every neutral sports fan secretly wants to see from an underdog — regardless of circumstances and difficulties. They made even the average viewer smile and feel something special.https://t.co/I183XyQChV
