Tuomas Iisalo made an incredible leap from Europe to an NBA head coaching position after decoding the game and refining his unique philosophy. In Malaga, another coach, Unicaja's Ibon Navarro, is carving out his own path with a style unlike anything seen in the world's top leagues.
I've analyzed 107 teams across the NBA, EuroLeague, EuroCup, Basketball Champions League, and ACB – and none of them come close to what Ibon Navarro has engineered in Malaga.
Before turning 30, Navarro was a chemist, even spending a year working in a lab in Cologne.
He's still mixing compounds today – but the lab is a basketball court, and the elements are players.
His formula? A radical rotation where no one plays more than 21 minutes per game, and at least 13 players clock over 12:44 per game.
Last season, not a single Unicaja player averaged more than 20 minutes in ACB.
This distribution of minutes fuels an aggressive, up-tempo style – relentless in transition, active off the ball, crashing the boards, and maintaining a rare and creative offensive flow.
The result?
Five titles in 2.5 years after a 17-year drought in Malaga, a city with a proud and storied basketball tradition, now boasts a brand of basketball that many EuroLeague clubs might envy for its beauty and quality.
To build this unique bond on and off the court, Malaga's sports director, Juanma Rodriguez, carefully scouted and selected players with the right personalities.
Meanwhile, coach Navarro plays a key role both on the court and, perhaps even more importantly, off it – fostering team chemistry with his unique approach.
"I remember our first year together, right before the ACB playoffs," Kendrick Perry, one of the ACB's most accomplished point guards, told BasketNews.
"We come into practice preparing to match up against Tenerife in the quarter finals. So after a mandatory 10-15 minute media session, the coach tells us to meet him outside by the padel courts.
"To our surprise, our whole training session that day was a 2-on-2 padel tournament between players and staff," said Perry.
Under Navarro, Perry earned BCL Final Four MVP honors in 2024 and was named the 2025 Copa del Rey MVP, including All-BCL Second (2023) and First Team (2024) selections.
"It was a fun time and allowed us not to be so tense going into the matchup. The result was that we swept Tenerife in the series.
"To me, it's moments like these where the coach allows us to connect more off the court and allows us a relaxing environment even in times during the season that can seem more 'serious' than others," Perry explained.
Since the start of the 2022-23 ACB season, Malaga has won 75% of its regular-season games – second only to Real Madrid over nearly three full seasons.
During this stretch, they've reached the Spanish League semifinals twice, claimed two of the last three Copa del Rey titles, and added an Intercontinental Cup and a Spanish Supercopa to their trophy case.
Since 2022-23, they've won more BCL games than any other team, posting a 37-7 record (84% win rate), culminating in their 2023-24 BCL championship.
Their dominance included an 18-game BCL winning streak that spanned 406 days – over 13 months – starting on January 24, 2024, and lasting until March 5, 2025.
In Malaga's Jose Maria Martin Carpena arena, the fans chant: Ibon has the plan.
But what's behind this basketball chemistry reshaping how the game is played in Europe?
Let's break it down with the man behind the formula – a 48-year-old Spanish coach, Ibon Navarro.
I used to think only Real Madrid could play this way – where players sacrifice minutes but are well paid and compete for titles.
Malaga, on the other hand, might not be seen by some as the pinnacle of a player's career. So how do you keep everyone happy under those circumstances?
First, you need
