Herbalife Gran Canaria will open its debut Turkish Airlines EuroLeague season with a familiar face, veteran coach Salvador Maldonado, on its bench, the club announced Tuesday.
Maldonado, 59, arrives from Estudiantes Madrid, which was his seventh Spanish League club in a head coaching career that spans 23 seasons. In May, he became just the sixth person ever to coach 600 or more Spanish League games. Four of those seasons Maldonado spent with Gran Canaria; he took the team to the Last 16 phase of the EuroCup in 2008.
He had previously coached Spanish League clubs Manresa, Sevilla and Baskonia, and would subsequently head the benches at Fuenlabrada, Joventut and Estudiantes. He lifted the Copa del Rey trophy as head coach of Manresa in 1996, the same year he was named the Spanish League’s coach of the year.
As it will be for his new club, this will mark Maldonado’s debut in the top European club competition.
Source: EuroLeague
