Entered the BCL at 36, got the record at 39: Huertas is the all-time assists leader

PERISTERI (Greece) - Lenovo Tenerife lost to Peristeri bwin on Tuesday, but the game saw Marcelinho Huertas dish out 9 assists with his 17 points. With 367 assists to his name, he overtook Dusan Djordjevic to take the all-time lead in the Basketball Champions League.

Djordjevic is still active, but out due to injury. Their assists per game pace isn't the same, either, Djordjevic played the BCL in all seven seasons, while Marcelinho only joined the League back in 2019 and already dished out more assists than anybody else.

 

"It tells a lot about the work we do daily in our team, the amount of quality I have on the court next to me. If I didn't have so many talented players, guys shooting the ball, being able to score, I would've never gotten this recognition. Individual awards are nice, but it's a team sports and it's all about winning," Huertas said after learning that he is now #1 on the list.

The fact that he came into the League at 36 and kept improving his level all the way to picking up the Final Four MVP award at 38, and now to take the all-time lead in assists at 39, it speaks volume on his commitment to coach Txus Vidorreta and Tenerife.

"In modern basketball there's a lot of point guards who are score-first options, but I'm still true to my game. I still try to play for the team, while staying aggressive to find ways to score too. I just try to focus on getting everybody involved, this is part of my experience, the coach's system and his trust in me," Huertas spoke about Vidorreta after winning the Final Four MVP award in May.

 

"(Winning the BCL) was the reason why we signed Marce. We had the idea that together we could win titles here in Bilbao, the club, it wasn't possible, but finally we did it with Tenerife, in Bilbao. It's very easy to coach Marcelinho, he does all the thinking on the court, I only have to decide about the starters and the rotations," Vidorreta smiled, back during the Bilbao Final Four.

Being the all-time assists leader in the Basketball Champions League fits in perfectly with the rest of Marcelinho's accomplishments:

BCL champion BCL Final Four MVP BCL Star Lineup First Team member BCL Star Lineup Second Team member FIBA Intercontinental Cup champion FIBA Intercontinental Cup MVP three-time Spanish champ five-time All-Spanish League Team three-time Spanish League Best Latin American Player FIBA South American Championship MVP two-time FIBA AmeriCup winner FIBA EuroCup champion [/unordered]

Look to add even more to the list with the way he's playing, and the way Lenovo Tenerife are playing, too. Marcelinho Huertas is currently #2 on the all-time assists list in the Spanish League, only Pablo Laso had more than him.

With Huertas not showing any interest of slowing down at 39 years of age, it's only a matter of time before he catches the all-time lead in the Liga Endesa, too.