The echoes of the surprising defeat of Barça at the first exchange in the Copa del Rey not only have not faded but also threaten to multiply. Unicaja uncovered the shortcomings of Jasikevicius's team and signed their first cup win against the Catalans in eight attempts. A result that only fuels doubts about the future of the Lithuanian coach, whose contract ends on June 30.
From the locker room they have been repeating all season that despite the obvious irregularity that Barça has been showing this season, they were aware that they had to be in tune at the right time while they negotiated the curves along the way. Statement and attitude that is explained after the disappointment of last year, defeated at the decisive moment in the Euroleague and in the ACB League after having dominated the regular season.
What happened in Badalona confirms that Barça is still far from achieving its great objective, and it has little to do with teams like Anadolu Efes, one of the examples that they set from the dressing room itself, capable of moving along the ledge during the course but win the important matches, as evidenced by their double European title.
After winning the two Cups played since landing on the Barça bench, Jasikevicius will have to cede the throne this year after another game, against Unicaja, which he dominated and did not know how to tie. The defeat against the diminished team from Malaga opens a new period of reflection at the Palau.
The Lithuanian coach signed a three-year contract to sign for Barça, a link that ends on June 30. Despite having won the League in his first year, having added two Cups and having been in two consecutive final fours after more than a decade, the confidence in the noble zone of the Palau towards Jasikevicius is no longer blind.
In fact, four months after the coach's contract ends, no one from the club has contacted him to start discussing a possible renewal, as the coach himself confirmed on Cadena Ser. The team's sporting performance begins to weigh more than his figure as a legend of the club and idol of the Palau, and after the bad taste in the mouth left by the final stretch of the last year, the Badalona Cup has been another setback.
Barça's delicate financial situation also affects basketball, another circumstance that could make a supposed agreement difficult, since the Lithuanian signed a contract at the time for amounts that the club cannot offer him now. It gives the feeling that from the sports management, a slave to the entity's finances, they prefer to wait for events before approaching a negotiation. To turn the situation around, Jasikevicius still has to fight for the League and, above all, for the long-awaited Euroleague, which this year will also be decided in Kaunas, his hometown.
For now, after losing badly to Unicaja, Barça and Jasikevicius are one step further.
