Madrid, 14 Mar Argentinian Luis Scola, Pau Gasol, Felipe Reyes and Laura Nicholls as 'Giants Leyenda', Ricky Rubio and Raquel Carrera (Valencia Basket) as players of the year and Cory Higgins (Barça) as best player in the Endesa League have been the winners of the 2021 'Giants del Basket' awards. At a gala in Madrid full of Spanish basketball personalities, the magazine recognized illustrious figures of this sport such as the Argentine Luis Scola, who received this award after leaving basketball last September to join Italian Varese as CEO. “Thank you for this beautiful recognition, I have been a fan of the magazine since before I arrived in Spain. This is where it all started for me as a professional and as a person,” he said when he picked up the Scola prize, who admitted to having “moved on” from his time as a player. “I don't miss playing, what I miss is playing well,” he joked. Another of the recently retired and recognized as' Legend 'was Felipe Reyes. “I remember 9-10 years waiting for him to come out to go to the kiosk. I wanted to see how you talked about my brother Alfonso, and I never imagined getting what I achieved, let alone being 'Giant Leyenda' of this magazine,” he said. With the same emotion, or even greater, Laura Nicholls received her award, who in May had said she was taking “a break” in her career and this Monday confirmed that it was final. “It was difficult for me to accept that yes, that I have retired, it is final,” he said. By videoconference from the United States he received his prize the fourth poker legend: Pau Gasol. “Thank you for the recognition and for all the work you do for basketball, I as a reader since the beginning of my career have enjoyed you a lot, even the posters,” he recalled. He was not a legend, but Pablo Laso stayed close, who was awarded the best coach of the decade for his career at the helm of Real Madrid. “In my house there are very few paintings, few basketball things, but there is a cover of Gigantes hanging on the wall with my face”, revealed the white coach, who recalled that when he signed someone told him that it would not last “not even a news show”. As the best player in the Endesa League, the American Cory Higgins took great pains to learn the difficult pronunciation of the word “recognition” in Spanish and assured that he hopes to “return very soon to contribute to 100% at the end of the season” of his injury, a chronic plantar fasciitis on his left foot for which he underwent surgery a month ago. Also through a video, such as Pau Gasol, Ricky Rubio thanked the award for best national player of the year, while recovering from a tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. “It's a long process, taking it as another challenge in my career,” he explained. The best player of the season was Raquel Carrera, who collected both her individual award and the award for her club, Valencia Basket, and had her recently deceased grandmother as the protagonist of her thanks. “For her I have always been her basketball giant,” she said. Barça legend Audie Norris, representing Barça Sarunas coach Jasikevicius, Casademont Zaragoza's Montenegrin forward Dino Radoncic and Hereda San Pablo Burgos Brazilian guard Vitor Benite were the other protagonists of a gala that also had prizes for the youngest, junior Carla Brito (SPAR Gran) Canary Islands) and Aday Mara (Casademont Zaragoza).. 'Basketball Giants' Awards 2021: - Giant international legend: Luis Scola. - Giant coach of the decade: Pablo Laso. - Giant of the year Endesa League: Cory Higgins. - Giant male legend: Felipe Reyes. - Giant female legend: Laura Nicholls. - Giant Men's Club: Barça. - Giant Women's Club: Valencia Basket. - Giant male legend: Pau Gasol. - Giant best coach: Sarunas Jasikevicius (Barça). - Women's Giant of the Year: Raquel Carrera (Valencia Basket). - Giant of the male year: Ricky Rubio. - Giant greatest male progression: Dino Radoncic (Casademont Zaragoza). - Giant biggest female progression: Sika Koné (SPAR Gran Canaria). - Giant anniversary: NBA. - Best sponsor giant: Lenovo. - Special giant: Eduardo García (Unicaja Málaga). - Giant best social project: Campus Social Basket Kellog's - Giant 'in memory': Fernando Martínez Arroyo. - Giant referee of legend: Juan Carlos Arteaga, José Antonio Martin Bertrán and Pedro Hernández Cabrera. - Latin American giant: Vitor Benite (San Pablo Burgos). - Giant content creation: Drafted. - Junior giant biggest progression: Carla Brito (SPAR Gran Canaria) and Aday Mara (Casademont Zaragoza). - Giant best sports director: Xevi Pujol (Baxi Manresa). - Giant sports city: La Nucia (Alicante).
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