Baskonia dismisses Pablo Laso after a year on the Barcelona bench.

Coach Pablo Laso will not continue as Baskonia's coach next season, the Basque club announced this Friday. He joined the club just a year ago, despite having two more years left on his contract. Italian Paolo Galbiati has been chosen as his replacement for the next two seasons. "The coach from Vitoria is no longer Baskonia's coach. Baskonia has decided to make a change at the helm, and Pablo Laso is ending his tenure as coach of the Barça squad," the Vitoria-based club said in a brief statement.

Laso, 57, who began his second spell at Baskonia in the summer of 2024 after a long spell as a player (1984-95), leaves Vitoria-Gasteiz after just one year , in which the team finished in eighth place in the regular season of the Endesa League, fell in the first round of the Playoffs against Real Madrid and failed to qualify for the Copa del Rey.

The Basque coach, who had returned to the Spanish Endesa League after spells with Valencia Basket, Gipuzkoa Basket, and, most notably, Real Madrid, a club he left in the summer of 2022 after winning 22 titles and following a heart attack that forced him to miss the final games of the Playoff for the Endesa League title against Barça. The Madrid club's medical report advised against him continuing on the bench, and the former player then took a year off before returning to coach Bayern Munich in the 2023-24 season, leaving to return home to try to make Baskonia shine again. However, under his leadership, the team only won 33 of their 68 games between the Endesa League and the Euroleague.

"The club appreciates his commitment and professionalism during his time at the helm of the Blaugrana coach and wishes him the best in his personal and professional future. Thank you, Pablo!" the Vitoria-based club added. The club soon announced that Laso's replacement will be Italian coach Paolo Galbiati, who arrives from Aquila Basket Trento in his home country and has signed with the Vitoria-Gasteiz team for the next two seasons.

The Basque club stated that the Milan native "has had a remarkable 2024-2025 campaign" with his former team and that "throughout his career, he has been part of the coaching staff of several important Lega clubs" and that he has "international experience at the highest competitive level as part of the coaching staff of the Italian national team."

"With potential, knowledge of the modern game, and a strong commitment to the team's development and growth, Galbiati arrives in Vitoria-Gasteiz with the ambition of leading a new project at the Buesa Arena . At Saski Baskonia, we would like to welcome Paolo Galbiati and wish him the best of luck in this new phase as a Baskonia player. Ongi Etorri, Paolo!" he concluded.