Vidorreta regrets not being able to persuade Sima to return

“I wasn’t given the chance to call him and persuade him,” Txus Vidorreta said of Yankuba Sima. Ahead of Unicaja’s game against Kids&Us Manresa, the coach addressed the failed attempt to bring the centre into his team, saying he would have liked to have him. He also said he had been told that Sima did not want to return to Málaga.

Vidorreta believes the reaction from the player’s entourage when his name emerged may have influenced the decision. “What was the reaction when Sima’s name came up? I’m not on social media, but I’ve been told something. Tepid. That didn’t help us,” he said. He stressed that this was only a hypothesis, while recalling Sima’s importance during his previous spell at the club.

The failed move leaves Unicaja without a signing that could have eased its problems in the paint. Vidorreta confirmed the club was still working in the market, with an interior rotation he considers insufficient. He said the team currently had three centres: Willy and Kravish, as well as a third player whose name is not used here because the quotation does not authorize it. He also raised the possibility of adding more than one player: “If we can add two players, better than one, but first we have to find one. A four-and-a-half would solve two problems.”