Big-time basketball is back after the summer break. We’ve been waiting for this for more than three months, and some of us even longer. But the wait is over: the VTB United League Super Cup kicks off this Thursday, September 17, and the regular season begins a week later. The Steal («Перехват») together with the League, has prepared a preview of the preseason tournament.
When and Where : Moscow, VTB Arena, September 17–20
Format : A total of 6 clubs, divided into 2 groups of 3 teams each; play within each group; on the final day, matches for 5th, 3rd, and 1st place based on the standings within the groups (winner vs. winner, etc.).
Schedule :
September 17: CSKA vs. Igokea
UNICS vs. Zenit
September 18: CSKA vs. Lokomotiv
Zenit vs. Efes
September 19: Loko vs. Igokea
Efes vs. UNICS
September 20: Matches for 5th, 3rd, and 1st place
The Super Cup Field: Team-by-Team Preview
CSKA, Moscow
The reigning tournament champions. Last season, the Army team won the treble, claiming the Super Cup, the United League, and the WINLINE Basket Cup.
The most consistent Russian club in recent years is aiming for its third consecutive Super Cup, but it hasn’t been such an undisputed favorite in ages. The team, led by Andreas Pistiolis, played four preseason games and… lost them all: to PARMA in Moscow and three times in Türkiye—against Beşiktaş, Galatasaray, and Tofaş. In Belek, the red-and-blues were outscored by margins ranging from 10 to 23 points…
Add to this the unclear status of Melo Trimble. The American played 20 minutes against PARMA, but that’s the extent of his participation in the preseason; he didn’t play in the Gloria Cup—CSKA’s official website reported a muscle injury. Without him, the team went 0-3, and much depends on whether the MVP of the last three United League playoffs and the Most Valuable Player of the last Super Cup will recover in time.
Another interesting story involving the Army Men is their only summer transfer, Kirill Elatontsev. Whether by the draw, fate, or providence, CSKA has been placed in the same group as Lokomotiv-Kuban, the club that produced the United League’s Young Player of the Year twice. Things haven’t gone entirely smoothly between them over the past year—and this will be their first face-to-face matchup.
UNICS, Kazan
This summer, Velimir Perasović, the architect of the club’s only victory in the United League to date, left the team. However, the Kazan organization worked to ensure continuity by appointing his assistant, Milan Karakaš, as head coach. A few years ago, albeit under a slightly more complex structure, a similar strategy allowed CSKA to return to the top of Russian basketball.
But continuity is one thing; rebuilding is another. UNICS has retained only four players from last year’s roster—Reynolds, Shved, Zakharov, and Belenitskii; everyone else, including Bryce, is new.
Fans have definitely seen all the Russian players in action: Klyuev has already played in the United League, Konovalov and Gudumak played there last season, Uzinsky played in Kazan, Mikhailovsii arrives as last season’s top scorer, and Baburin—well, he’s Baburin and needs no introduction.
That said, fans have also seen most of the foreign players in action somewhere before: Rathan-Mayes was the league’s top scorer back when he played for Enisey. Adams had a solid season in Perm, and Samanic had a falling-out with his coach at Zenit but is now heading to work with a fellow countryman… Bryce even started last season in Kazan. Among the unknowns is McCormack, signed as a replacement for Delgado, but it’s still unclear whether the American with a Rwandan passport will have time to get all his paperwork in order and play in the Super Cup. And besides, he can’t really be called an unknown, since the center is coming to Russia straight from the EuroLeague.
Not counting the Spartakiad, UNICS managed to play four friendly matches—two that were purely friendly and two in the Kondrashin and Belov Cup, which has held official tournament status for the second year in a row. The Kazan team won three games and lost only to MBA in the final, but both coaches—Karakaš and Voznyuk—offered this explanation: the Moscow team had played in the Spartakiad with their full-strength roster and managed to get into decent shape for the preseason. Now, UNICS itself may have had time to get into shape as well.
Lokomotiv-Kuban, Krasnodar
The architects of what was likely last summer’s most intriguing transfer campaign. The Russian part of the team was reinforced by Abdulbasirov, Barashkov, Lopatin, and Firsov, while the foreign players added Knight, Quinn, and Pokusevski.
“Loko” managed to retain most of last season’s roster, including two foreign players—it’s hard to imagine this team without Miller now, and Hadzibegović has fit perfectly into Tomislav Tomović’s system. In fact, the head coach himself has remained with the team.
The main loss for Krasnodar ahead of the Super Cup is Vsevolod Ishchenko. The NBA Summer League participant has returned to Krasnodar for at least another year, but he is not yet physically ready, as he is recovering from an injury. The Kuban-trained player also missed the training camp in Türkiye.
During the preseason, the team won two friendly matches against Dynamo Grozny and played four games in Türkiye, losing twice—to Türk Telekom and to the other Super Cup participant, Efes. Today, Lokomotiv will play its final friendly match in Moscow against MBA.
Zenit, St. Petersburg
During the offseason, the Petersburg team undertook such major changes that they affected not only the players and the head coach, but also the front office—all the way up to the General Manager. So it’s fair to say there’s been a real restructuring in the Northern Capital.
That said, the roster itself has changed far less than UNICS, for instance. Almost all the Russian players have stayed with the team, along with two foreign players—Roberson and Poythress, who has recovered from his injury. Dmitry Kulagin has arrived—or, more accurately, returned—the man who single-handedly saved UNICS’s first game of that semifinal series, which was largely responsible for the aforementioned shake-up. Kulagin’s comeback is one of the major “Russian” transfers of this summer.
Ike Iroegbu, who moved from sunny Italy, is lifting the spirits of St. Petersburg fans, while former Avtodor player Mason has simply traded one injury room to another —he was in Dubai’s, and now he’s in St. Petersburg’s.
Zenit has played five games and lost three times, including in the semifinals of the home Kondrashin and Belov Cup, which the team had won five out of five times in previous years. Another game, against Vienna, ended in a draw, while Dusko Ivanović’s team lost to FMP, Partizan, and MBA. The Montenegrin coach himself remains calm for now: he says the transfer window isn’t closed yet, but overall, his players are improving with every game.
Have they improved enough to win the Super Cup? We’ll find out this week.
Anadolu Efes, Istanbul
After a disastrous previous season (19th place in the EuroLeague, semifinals in Türkiye), the Istanbulite team planned to replace Pablo Laso with Luca Banchi. However, something went wrong, and in the end, the club decided not to exercise its option to terminate Laso’s contract.
What’s more, this summer, Efes didn’t just undergo a rebuild—it was a full-blown revolution. It’s hard to describe the departure of Shane Larkin, who had long been the face of the club, in any other way. Rodrigue Beaubois, an Efes veteran with eight seasons under his belt, also left. Poirier, Smits, Weiler-Babb, Lee… The sports director who put this team together also stepped down from his position.
Now everything is different there, and here’s what stands out most: Dario Šarić has returned to the team from the NBA after 10 years, EuroCup top scorer Darron Russell has arrived, and Mike James and Matthew Strazel have joined from the struggling Monaco team. Together with Jordan Lloyd, they form a well-established trio that played side by side in the principality for three full seasons.
Aside from the fact that a EuroLeague club is coming to Russia, the main draw here is the chance to see James and Lloyd in person. Both have left a significant mark on the history of their respective clubs, CSKA and Zenit.
In September, Efes played six exhibition games and secured four wins, including one over Lokomotiv; they lost to Erokspor and Dubai.
Igokea, Laktaši
Fans of the United League are well acquainted with Igokea, which participated in last season’s mid-season cup and will compete in the upcoming one. Over the summer, the club even signed a Russian player; however, for now, it is expected that Elisei Babkin will see most of his playing time with the youth team—it’s unlikely he’ll make an appearance in Moscow.
During the offseason, Igokea extended head coach Nenad Stefanović’s contract—they’ve been together since 2024 and won the Bosnia and Herzegovina championship, but… that was in 2025. Last season, the team lost the title to Bosna from Sarajevo.
The team from the Republika Srpska is off to a strong preseason—five wins, including one over Bahçeşehir itself, counting Malachi Flynn, Mateusz Ponitka, and Saša Đorđević. So we hope that in the Super Cup, Igokea will be able to put up a fight in its group—where it will face CSKA and Lokomotiv.
