The great old rocker of the Spanish Basketball League played his last chord in the ACB last Sunday. Marcelinho Huertas, the eternal 43-year-old Brazilian point guard, leaves La Laguna Tenerife to sign for Dubai Basketball for the remainder of the season and another and thus return to the Euroleague thanks to a project bathed in petrodollar money and directed from the bench by Xavi Pascual, the coach who already coached him in his time at Barcelona (2011-15).
Marcelinho, Tenerife and Dubai have closed a transfer that leaves a huge void both in the island club and in the Endesa League due to his status as an endless player, a prodigy of resistance, intelligence and passion for the game who has taken maximum care of his physical condition so that the body would accompany a prodigious mind. The Brazilian debuted in the ACB on October 2, 2004 with the Joventut shirt with Rudy Fernández and Alex Mumbrú as teammates and 22 years later he played his last game precisely against Penya last Sunday. Compared to other wise men like Ricky Rubio and Nico Laprovittola, Huertas added 19 points and 4 assists to add luster to an encyclopedic service record: historical leader in assists (3,440), third with the most games played (739), fourth with the most victories (493), eighth in minutes (16,420) and points (7,560) and fifth in rating (8,549). Only Darryl Middleton (44 years and nine months) and Albert Oliver (43 and 11) have surpassed him in longevity in a league match, while Marcelinho has been the oldest to play in a Cup and to achieve the League MVP award (in 2025 at 42 years old).
Huertas says goodbye to the island at the beginning of his eighth season with the Tenerife team, his longest spell in a team after previously playing in Joventut, Bilbao, Baskonia and Barcelona, and abroad in Bologna and in the Lakers with Kobe Bryant. The option of returning to the Euroleague after his last participation in 2019 with Baskonia and a good sporting and economic offer have convinced the player to change his scene. Xavi Pascual awaits him in a Dubai that is playing its second season in the European elite and that has shown muscle this summer with the signings of Walkup, Shengelia, Diakité, Okobo, Blossomgame and above all the Catalan coach, one of the most coveted on the continent after leaving the Palau.
The Emirati team already altered the European basketball board when it debuted last year in the Euroleague just two years after its creation and with a budget of 16 million dollars that allowed it, for example, to hire Real Madrid player Dzanan Musa as a great figure. Now he points to Marcelinho as the new piece of his luxurious collection with the challenge of reaching the Final Four that will be played next May in nearby Abu Dhabi (in its debut the team fell just short of reaching the quarterfinals). Pascual's group is second in the current regular phase, tied with five other teams, with seven victories in 10 days, only surpassed with one more victory by Panathinaikos. In their first two games of the European season, they beat Real Madrid (78-77) and Barcelona (94-87) at the Coca-Cola Arena.
Marce will thus export his formula of eternal youth from the Spanish League to the Euroleague. If he plays in a European Cup game again seven years later, the point guard will become the second oldest basketball player in the major competition, only surpassed by American center Dan Gay, who played for Bologna in 2007 at the age of 45 and a half.
