Laia Palau Altés (born 10 September 1979) is a Spanish former professional basketball player. 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). 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.Gasol, Garbajosa y Navarro, entre los nominados al 'Mejor jugador FIBA del año' 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.PLKK player profile 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).Palau profile in EuroLeague Women site
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. In January 2018 she signed for EuroLeague French team Bourges Basket, 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 SeasonTeam GPMPPPPPRPPAPP2003–04 Universitari de Barcelona1427.910.64.73.92004–05 Bourges Basket1730.613.53.63.42005–06 Bourges Basket1530.712.93.54.02006–07 Ros Casares Valencia1727.16.42.83.22007–08 Ros Casares Valencia1624.96.92.93.52008–09 Ros Casares Valencia1416.93.41.62.12009–10 Ros Casares Valencia1623.96.92.62.82010–11 Ros Casares Valencia1522.35.93.63.22011–12 Ros Casares Valencia1924.36.53.55.62012–13 CCC Polkowice1736.27.65.16.42013–14 USK Praha1835.26.75.36.82014–15 USK Praha1634.98.65.17.12015–16 USK Praha1832.37.44.97.12016–17 USK Praha1932.25.13.67.82017–18 Bourges Basket625.27.23.34.82019–20 Spar CityLift Girona1428.04.42.94.52020-21 Spar CityLift Girona920.84.31.94.7TOTAL 26028.37.03.33.7
EuroCup statistics
SeasonTeam GPMPPPPPRPPAPP2018–19 Spar CityLift Girona1428.37.23.16.02019–20 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: 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
External links