Showdowns between NBA and international clubs have historically been bloodbaths, with American teams winning 90.5 percent of matchups against non-NBA squads. That includes Euroleague powerhouses such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona and CSKA Moscow.
Surprisingly, there is one international club that has a winning record against NBA competition, and it's one that hasn't even played in the Euroleague since 2017-18. That would be Unicaja of Spain, which currently competes in Liga ACB and the Basketball Champions League, and which has never even finished Top 2 in a Euroleague campaign.
We can chalk up Unicaja's winning record against NBA competition to sample size, however, as the Spaniards have played only one game against an NBA team, and that was on Oct.
9, 2007. That fateful night, Unicaja defeated the Memphis Grizzlies 102-99 in a game that took place at the José María Martín Carpena Sports Palacio in Malaga. Croatian point guard Davor Kus led Unicaja in scoring that night with 20 points against his NBA foes. Marcus Haislip, meanwhile, a lottery pick out of Tennessee in 2002, had 18 points against the Grizzlies in the historic win for the Spanish club. Haislip played only 89 NBA games in his career and averaged a paltry 3.5 points per game, though he built a pretty impressive overseas career.
What's ironic about that win for Unicaja is that the Spanish club defeated an NBA team with two Spanish superstars on the roster, Pau Gasol and Juan Carlos Navarro, both of whom played sizable roles in that game, with the big man scoring 18 points that night and Navarro dropping 21.
Still, that wasn't enough: Memphis fell by three points, giving Unicaja a perfect 1-0 record against NBA competition. That, along with the club's 2005-06 Liga ACB title, is one of the proudest accomplishments in club history.
Again, however, international clubs have rarely succeeded against NBA competition. Just ask Maccabi Haifa: The Israeli club has lost all 21 of its games against NBA teams. Its domestic rival Maccabi Tel Aviv, meanwhile, holds the record for the most wins with four, starting with a 98-97 victory over the reigning champion Washington Bullets in Tel Aviv in 1978. 1979 Eurobasket MVP Miki Berkovich led Maccabi in scoring in the upset win, dropping 26 points that fateful evening.
Non-European clubs have struggled most against NBA teams, which makes sense given the level of investment in basketball in Europe. Teams from the NBL (Australia and New Zealand), China, and Latin America are 1-52 against NBA competition, with the only win being Adelaide's 134-124 victory over the Phoenix Suns in 2023. The 36ers were led by American 2-guard Craig Randall II (35 points) and Washington State product Robert Franks (32 points), a power forward also of American descent, in the win.
Meanwhile, Spanish teams have the most wins (seven, with 17 losses) against NBA rivals, while Russians have the best win percentage (30.0 percent, on a 3-7 record) against NBA foes.
In total, eight international clubs have defeated NBA teams: Unicaja, Alba Berlin, Fenerbahçe, Barcelona, CSKA Moscow, Real Madrid, Adelaide 36ers and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The most recent was in 2023, when Real Madrid defeated Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks 127-123. Argentine point guard Facundo Campazzo led Madrid to the upset win, while Doncic played just five minutes. Campazzo had 20 points, six rebounds, eight assists and just one turnover in the outing, one that came right after his three-season NBA stint had ended, meaning the game likely had something personal to it for the diminutive guard.
Among international teams with at least a three-game sample against NBA competition, FC Barcelona has kept it closest, losing by just 4.3 points per game on average.
Below, you can check out a detailed breakdown of how clubs with at least one win against NBA competition have fared.
Unicaja: 1-0 (1.000)
- Point differential: +3
- Wins: Memphis (2007)
Alba Berlin: 1-1 (.500)
- Average point differential: -2.0
- Wins: San Antonio (2014)
- Losses: Dallas (2012)
Fenerbahçe: 2-3 (.400)
- Average point differential: -7.6
- Wins: Boston (2012), Brooklyn (2015)
- Losses: Oklahoma City (2013), San Antonio (2014), Oklahoma City (2015)
FC Barcelona: 3-5 (.375)
- Average point differential: -4.3
- Wins: Philadelphia (2006), LA Lakers (2010), Dallas (2012)
- Losses: Denver (1989), Memphis (2003), LA Lakers (2008), LA Clippers (2008), Oklahoma City (2016)
CSKA Moscow: 3-6 (.333)
- Average point differential: -5.2
- Wins: LA Clippers (2006), Cleveland (2010), Minnesota (2013)
- Losses: Philadelphia (2006), Orlando (2008), Toronto (2008), Miami (2010), Oklahoma City (2010), San Antonio (2013)
Real Madrid: 3-6 (.333)
- Average point differential: -10.1
- Wins: Toronto (2007), Oklahoma City (2016), Dallas (2023)
- Losses: Boston (1988), Phoenix (1993), Utah (2009), Memphis (2012), Toronto (2012), Boston (2015)
Adelaide 36ers: 1-3 (.250)
- Average point differential: -26.3
- Wins: Phoenix (2022)
- Losses: Utah (2018), Utah (2019), Oklahoma City (2022)
Maccabi Tel Aviv: 4-16 (.200)
- Average point differential: -14.0
- Wins: Washington (1978), New Jersey (1984), Phoenix (1984), Toronto (2005)
- Losses: Philadelphia (1988), Miami (1989), LA Lakers (1990), LA Clippers (1991), LA Clippers (1991), Miami (1999), Orlando (2005), San Antonio (2006), Phoenix (2006), Cleveland (2006), Toronto (2006), New York (2007), New York (2009), LA Clippers (2009), Cleveland (2014), Brooklyn (2014)
We highly recommend you add HoopsHype as a preferred source on Google. You just have toclick here.
This content may be blocked in parts of Europe due toGDPR. To use it, connect yourVPN to a non-EU country and try again.
This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: Only one international club has a winning record against NBA teams. It's not who you think
