Laia Palau

Spanish basketball player
Laia Palau
No. 3 – Spar CityLift Girona
PositionPoint guard
LeagueLiga Día
Personal information
Born (1979-09-10) 10 September 1979 (age 44)
Barcelona, Spain
NationalitySpanish
Listed height5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Listed weight152 lb (69 kg)
Career information
CollegeUniversity of Barcelona
Playing career1997–present
Career history
1997–2004Universitari de Barcelona
2004–2006Bourges Basket
2006–2012Ros Casares Valencia
2012–2013CCC Polkowice
2013–2017USK Praha
2017Jayco Rangers
2018Bourges Basket
2018-presentSpar CityLift Girona
Career highlights and awards
  • 2× EuroLeague champion (2012, 2015)
  • 7× Spanish League champion (2003, 2007–10, 2012, 2019)
  • 5× Spanish Cup champion (2007–10, 2021)
  • 2x French League champion (2006, 2018)
  • 3× French Cup champion (2005, 2006, 2018)
  • Polish League champion (2013)
  • Polish Cup champion (2013)
  • 4× Czech League champion (2014–17)
  • 2× Czech Cup champion (2014, 2015)

Laia Palau Altés (born 10 September 1979) is a Spanish professional basketball player, currently playing for Spanish team Spar CityLift Girona. At 314, she is the most capped player in the Spain women's national basketball team, after being in the senior team for two decades (2002-2021).[1] With 12 medals in final tournaments, she is also the top medallist.

Club career

Palau began her professional career with Universitari de Barcelona in 1997, and continued to play with CBF Universitari de Barcelona through 2004, winning one league title.[2] In 2004, she joined Bourges Basket, and played with them through 2006, winning 1 league and 2 French cups.

Back in Spain, she played for Ros Casares Valencia between 2006 and 2012, winning 5 league titles, 4 cups and the 2011–12 EuroLeague Women. After the club's decision not to play in top tier any more, in PLKK season 2012/13, she joined CCC Polkowice and won Championship's title and Polish Cup as well.[3] With CCC she participated in EuroLeague Women 2012–13 reaching Final Eight and ranked #1 overall in Assists (6.4), #2 overall in Turnovers (3.8) and #2 overall in Minutes (36.2).[4]

From 2013 to 2017 she played for USK Praha with whom she won the 2014–15 EuroLeague Women, 4 leagues and 2 cups. In 2017, after 20 years playing professionally in Europe, she signed for Australian team Jayco Rangers.[5][6] In January 2018 she signed for EuroLeague French team Bourges Basket,[7] winning both French League and French Cup. Back in Spain, she signed for Spar CityLift Girona, winning the 2019 league and the 2021 cup.

EuroLeague statistics

Euroleague winner
Season Team GP MPP PPP RPP APP
2003–04 Spain Universitari de Barcelona 14 27.9 10.6 4.7 3.9
2004–05 France Bourges Basket 17 30.6 13.5 3.6 3.4
2005–06 France Bourges Basket 15 30.7 12.9 3.5 4.0
2006–07 Spain Ros Casares Valencia 17 27.1 6.4 2.8 3.2
2007–08 Spain Ros Casares Valencia 16 24.9 6.9 2.9 3.5
2008–09 Spain Ros Casares Valencia 14 16.9 3.4 1.6 2.1
2009–10 Spain Ros Casares Valencia 16 23.9 6.9 2.6 2.8
2010–11 Spain Ros Casares Valencia 15 22.3 5.9 3.6 3.2
2011–12 Spain Ros Casares Valencia 19 24.3 6.5 3.5 5.6
2012–13 Poland CCC Polkowice 17 36.2 7.6 5.1 6.4
2013–14 Czech Republic USK Praha 18 35.2 6.7 5.3 6.8
2014–15 Czech Republic USK Praha 16 34.9 8.6 5.1 7.1
2015–16 Czech Republic USK Praha 18 32.3 7.4 4.9 7.1
2016–17 Czech Republic USK Praha 19 32.2 5.1 3.6 7.8
2017–18 France Bourges Basket 6 25.2 7.2 3.3 4.8
2019–20 Spain Spar CityLift Girona 14 28.0 4.4 2.9 4.5
2020-21 Spain Spar CityLift Girona 9 20.8 4.3 1.9 4.7
TOTAL 260 28.3 7.0 3.3 3.7

EuroCup statistics

Season Team GP MPP PPP RPP APP
2018–19 Spain Spar CityLift Girona 14 28.3 7.2 3.1 6.0
2019–20 Spain Spar CityLift Girona

National team

She made her debut with Spain women's national basketball team at the age of 22. She played with the senior team from 2002 until her retirement in 2021. She is the most capped player in the Spain national team with a total of 314 caps and with 5.9 PPG. She participated in 4 Olympic Games, 5 World Championships and in 10 European Championships:[8][9]

References

  1. ^ "Selección Española Absoluta Femenina de Baloncesto". seleccionfemenina.feb.es. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  2. ^ Gasol, Garbajosa y Navarro, entre los nominados al 'Mejor jugador FIBA del año'
  3. ^ PLKK player profile Archived 20 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Palau profile in EuroLeague Women site
  5. ^ "ACB.COM – Laia Palau jugará en Australia: ficha por las Jayco Rangers". www.acb.com. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  6. ^ "Laia Palau dirá adiós al baloncesto de elite tras la Euroliga y el Eurobasket". www.efe.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  7. ^ "A EuroLeague Women legend is ready to make her surprise return to the competition". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
  8. ^ "archive.fiba.com: Players". archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
  9. ^ "Laia Palau: The Spanish evolution 2003–2017". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 4 October 2017.

External links

Spain squads
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Spain squad – 2010 FIBA World Championship – Bronze medal
Spain
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Spain squad – EuroBasket Women 2013 – Gold medal
Spain
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Spain squad – 2014 FIBA World Championship – Silver medal
Spain
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Spain squad – 2016 Summer Olympics – Silver medal
Spain
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Spain squad – EuroBasket Women 2017 – Gold medal
Spain
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Spain squad – 2018 World Cup – Bronze medal
Spain
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Ros Casares Valencia 2011–12 Euroleague Women champions
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ZVVZ USK Praha 2014–15 Euroleague Women champions