After ‘Lapro’, a new danger for Barça: an MVP-style Mike James arrives at the Palau

Barça suffered yesterday, and firsthand, what is known as the ‘revenge of the ex’, after the marvelous display of Nicolas Laprovittola (31 points, with a 9/13 in triples) in the final of the Endesa Super Cup that Asisa Joventut won after beating the Blaugrana by a clear 101-87.

After what was shown on Saturday before the Kosner Baskonia (27 points), few doubted that yesterday they would see another great performance from the Argentine, especially motivated to face Barça, which was his team for five seasons, until this past summer.

At 36 years old (he turns 37 in January 2027), and with a long history of injuries, the Barça club decided not to renew the contract of Morón, who ended up in Penya, where he had already played for a season and a half, between 2018 and 2019.

Surely, after its exhibition yesterday at the Badalona Olympicmore than one regrets that decision.

With practically no time to digest this defeat, Barça debuts this Thursday the 24th in the 2026/27 Euroleague, receiving in the Palau Blaugrana to the Anadolu Efes.

He has been playing for the Turkish team since this summer and as one of the star signings of the Pablo Lasothe veteran American base Michael James (like ‘Lapro’, 36 years old contemplate him) a player who is not an ‘ex’ in the strict sense of the word, but whose future seemed, for a few days, to go through the Palau Blaugrana.

The Euroleague’s all-time leading scorer revealed this week, in an interview on ‘Eurohoops’ in Türkiye, his version of his frustrated signing for the Barça team.

“To be honest, I was basically a Barcelona player. After the deal fell through, I don’t know the exact details, but as soon as it changed, I went out on the market and tried to listen to as many teams as I could about what they thought of me and how they would see me in their squads, and from there, I made the best decision.”

Furthermore, James will arrive at the Palau in top form after contributing yesterday with 27 pointsand a decisive 3+1 in the final moments of the match, five rebounds, 4 assists and a PIR of 30, to the victory of Anadolu Efes before him Lokomotiv Kuban (88-82) in the final of the VTB United League SuperCupIn addition to being chosen MVP of the tournament, after averaging 19 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists.

And if that were not enough, the American is already used to putting in good performances against Barça. And now, he will have one more reason to look to show off in front of what could have been his hobby if Xavi Pascualhis main supporter, would have continued on the Barça bench.