Zalgiris Kaunas head coach Andrea Trinchieri believes this upcoming EuroLeague season will be incredibly challenging, potentially the toughest ever.

“I don’t want to be boring, but the thing is, in my opinion, this is one of the strongest EuroLeague campaigns ever,” he underlined. “Besides the fact that it will be fun to watch, we have to swim in these seas, and there are a lot of sharks, a lot of big teams, and a lot of talented players. I’m thrilled by the challenge and the task. It will be tough, I’m 100% sure.”

Teams like Panathinaikos Athens, Olympiacos Piraeus, and Fenerbahce Istanbul have made big moves during the off-season, bringing in players like Evan Fournier, Cedi Osman, Wade Baldwin, and many other stars.

When asked which off-season signings surprised him the most, Trinchieri responded:

“The number of good players in big teams is amazing, and the number of different options that every team has is higher than ever,” the Italian tactician noted. “Quick example: Fenerbahce signed Boban Marjanovic just to have a huge body, the biggest body because their roster was missing [such a player], and they have any kind of possible big. They have a smart big, a tough big, and an athletic big, and this is just an example. I’m not pointing to Fenerbahce.”

“If you count how many guards Panathinaikos and Olympiacos have on their rosters, it never happened like this. We’re talking about six to seven starters. I believe this is the main thing that has changed,” Trinchieri evaluated the EuroLeague summer.

Meanwhile, Zalgiris have announced their largest budget in the club's history, totaling 17.7 million euros. They will kick off the new EuroLeague season by facing one of the league’s powerhouse teams, FC Barcelona, on Thursday at Zalgirio Arena.