Just over a week before the EuroLeague Final Four, Real Madrid has received devastating news: Edy Tavares and Alex Len are both injured and will not be available for the tournament that will decide the European champion.
Len (2.13m, 32 years old) is suffering from a plantar fascia injury in his left foot. A bad move during Sunday’s game against Río Breogán, while the Ukrainian center was having a standout performance (17 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, 5 fouls drawn, and a PIR of 26 in 19 minutes), sent him to the bench with a noticeable limp. Alarms went off, and on Tuesday the worst fears were confirmed. With so little time left, his participation in the semifinal in Athens on May 22 is ruled out, though he retains a minimal chance of returning during the Liga Endesa playoffs. A critical situation.
Tavares, who has been out for the entire season, is also definitively unavailable. The 2.20m, 33-year-old center injured the medial collateral ligament in his left knee during the first playoff game against Hapoel. He will not recover in time and will not play again this season—a crushing blow for Madrid. Tavares, one of the most dominant centers in the competition, possibly the most impactful defensively, leaves coach Sergio Scariolo without any seven-foot or taller big man to battle for the European crown.
Usman Garuba now stands alone as the only pure center, though with a different profile than Tavares and Len. More explosive and quicker, the academy product can defend at the top of a 3-2 zone or switch onto perimeter players far from the basket. The Azuqueca de Henares native is fast on help defense and good at blocking shots, but he lacks the size under the rim that his two teammates provided. Furthermore, his high-energy playing style requires relief every few minutes.
In the recent playoff series against Hapoel (3-1 for Madrid), Garuba reminded fans of the mobile interior he was during the 2021 quarterfinal playoff against Efes, just before he left for the NBA. Back then he was 19; now he is 24. He appears to have regained that defensive impact with improved offensive reads. Against the Israeli team, he averaged 10.2 points (76% field goal shooting), 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, and 1 block for a PIR of 14 in just 18:28 minutes per game. He was especially influential in the second game (13 points, PIR 21) and the fourth and final game (16 points, PIR 20), where he played with a protected hand after a hard knock. The good news is that, although he did not play on Sunday against Breogán, he is recovering well from the trauma.
Without Tavares and Garuba in the last league game, Len was trying to regain his spark after several months as the third interior option. In the ACB, over 21 games, he averages 7.1 points and 3.6 rebounds in 13:23 minutes per game. In the EuroLeague, he averages just 9 minutes in 23 games: 3 points and 2 rebounds.
In this sudden crisis in the frontcourt, Trey Lyles can help as an emergency center, and Scariolo can also turn to Izan Almansa (2.07m, 105 kg, 20 years old), who splits time between the first team and the U22 league. The Murcian has only played in two continental games (nine total minutes), on matchday three and matchday six, both on October 22. In the national competition, he has played more—14 games—reaching his minute ceiling (20) last Sunday.
The season had been very well managed physically, with good load distribution, but unforeseen traumatic injuries—not caused by overexertion—have struck all at once. The deadline for signing players in the EuroLeague has completely passed, but in the ACB there is still room (until a few hours before the playoffs begin) if the club deems it necessary, especially once they see how Len’s recovery progresses and whether he has any small chance of returning for the league playoffs in June.
