Marcelinho Huertas has no age
Marcelinho Huertas continues to make history at 42 years old, after it was announced that the Brazilian point guard is the MVP of the 2024-25 season of the ACB League. Earlier in the month, Huertas also received the Basketball Champions League MVP award, becoming the first player in BCL history to win this award back-to-back, as he was MVP last season too. It’s an incredible performance, especially considering that very few players can still compete at the highest level at his age.
Marcelinho began his professional career in his home country at FMU São Paulo in the 2001-2002 season and continued to play in Brazil until 2004. His talent was unquestionable, and he made the jump to the strongest European domestic league, the Spanish ACB at the age of 21 when he signed for Joventut Badalona. Except for one season when he played in Italy for Fortitudo Bologna, Huertas stayed in the Spanish League until 2015, playing for some of the strongest clubs on the continent: he won the Spanish League once with Baskonia in 2010 and twice with FC Barcelona in 2012 and 2014. With the Blaugrana, he also won the Spanish Cup and the Spanish Super Cup.
Barcelona was, of course, one of the strongest teams in Europe, but in 2015, he decided to take his talents to the NBA when he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, becoming one of the oldest rookies in league history. He stayed two seasons in California, appearing in a total of 76 games, but he couldn’t get in the starting lineup for the Lakers, and his minutes decreased in his second season from 16 minutes/game to 10 minutes/game. After the 2017 season ended, he returned to Spain, first playing again for Baskonia, and then signed with Tenerife in 2019, where he still plays today.
Even though he was already 36 when he signed for the team from the Canary Islands, he became arguably the biggest player in the club’s history. With Marcelinho as a key player, Tenerife won the Basketball Champions League in 2022, the FIBA Intercontinental Cup in 2020 and 2023 and the team also qualified at the least for the quarter finals of the BCL in all six seasons, while also reaching the Copa del Rey semifinal five times (once they lost in the Final).
This season Marcelinho Huertas averaged 14.3 ppg and 7.2 apg in the ACB League regular season, while in the BCL he had almost 16 ppg and 6.7 apg, deservedly winning the MVP award in both leagues.
Imre Halasz
Image credit: AS
