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 |  Universitari de Barcelona
|
14 | 27.9 | 10.6 | 4.7 | 3.9 |
| 2004–05 |  Bourges Basket
|
17 | 30.6 | 13.5 | 3.6 | 3.4 |
| 2005–06 | Bourges Basket
|
15 | 30.7 | 12.9 | 3.5 | 4.0 |
| 2006–07 | Ros Casares Valencia
|
17 | 27.1 | 6.4 | 2.8 | 3.2 |
| 2007–08 | Ros Casares Valencia
|
16 | 24.9 | 6.9 | 2.9 | 3.5 |
| 2008–09 | Ros Casares Valencia
|
14 | 16.9 | 3.4 | 1.6 | 2.1 |
| 2009–10 | Ros Casares Valencia
|
16 | 23.9 | 6.9 | 2.6 | 2.8 |
| 2010–11 | Ros Casares Valencia
|
15 | 22.3 | 5.9 | 3.6 | 3.2 |
| 2011–12 | Ros Casares Valencia
|
19 | 24.3 | 6.5 | 3.5 | 5.6 |
| 2012–13 |  CCC Polkowice
|
17 | 36.2 | 7.6 | 5.1 | 6.4 |
| 2013–14 |  USK Praha
|
18 | 35.2 | 6.7 | 5.3 | 6.8 |
| 2014–15 | USK Praha
|
16 | 34.9 | 8.6 | 5.1 | 7.1 |
| 2015–16 | USK Praha
|
18 | 32.3 | 7.4 | 4.9 | 7.1 |
| 2016–17 | USK Praha
|
19 | 32.2 | 5.1 | 3.6 | 7.8 |
| 2017–18 | Bourges Basket
|
6 | 25.2 | 7.2 | 3.3 | 4.8 |
| 2019–20 | Spar CityLift Girona
|
14 | 28.0 | 4.4 | 2.9 | 4.5 |
| 2020-21 | 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 | Spar CityLift Girona
|
14 | 28.3 | 7.2 | 3.1 | 6.0 |
| 2019–20 | 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]
- 4th 1995 FIBA Europe Under-16 Championship (youth)
- 8th 1997 FIBA Under-19 World Championship (youth)
- 5th 2002 World Championship
2003 Eurobasket- 6th 2004 Summer Olympics
- 2005 Eurobasket
- 8th 2006 World Championship
2007 Eurobasket- 5th 2008 Summer Olympics
- 2009 Eurobasket
2010 World Championship- 9th 2011 Eurobasket
2013 Eurobasket
2014 World Championship- 2015 Eurobasket
2016 Summer Olympics- 2017 Eurobasket
- 2018 World Championship
- 2019 Eurobasket
- 7th 2021 Eurobasket
- 6th 2020 Summer Olympics
References
- ^ "Selección Española Absoluta Femenina de Baloncesto". seleccionfemenina.feb.es. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
- ^ Gasol, Garbajosa y Navarro, entre los nominados al 'Mejor jugador FIBA del año'
- ^ PLKK player profile Archived 20 May 2013 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Palau profile in EuroLeague Women site
- ^ "ACB.COM – Laia Palau jugará en Australia: ficha por las Jayco Rangers". www.acb.com. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
- ^ "Laia Palau dirá adiós al baloncesto de elite tras la Euroliga y el Eurobasket". www.efe.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 24 September 2017.
- ^ "A EuroLeague Women legend is ready to make her surprise return to the competition". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 16 January 2018.
- ^ "archive.fiba.com: Players". archive.fiba.com. Retrieved 4 January 2022.
- ^ "Laia Palau: The Spanish evolution 2003–2017". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 4 October 2017.
External links
- Laia Palau at FIBA
- Laia Palau at Eurobasket.com
- Laia Palau at Olympics.com
- Laia Palau at Olympic.org (archived)
- Laia Palau at Olympedia
- Laia Palau at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
- Laia Palau Altés at the Comité Olímpico Español (in Spanish)
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