Partizan win eighth ABA League title, Buducnost fall 90-75
The Black and Whites took the regional crown 3-1 in the final series; the decisive game in front of 21,434 fans at Belgrade Arena was settled in the third quarter by Brandon Davies's defence.
The moment the buzzer ended the game, Carlik Jones sat down on the parquet and covered his face with a towel. It was 10:17 p.m., Belgrade Arena was swaying from the chanting, and Partizan’s American guard had spent the last two years going through two knee operations, a broken contract in Turkey, and a mid-season return to Belgrade via Bratislava. Coach Zeljko Obradovic walked over, lifted the towel, and whispered something to him. Jones nodded, stood up, and went to lift the cup that, with every new title, is carried like a personal possession.
Partizan beat Buducnost 90-75 in Game 4 of the ABA League playoff final, taking the series 3-1 and an eighth regional crown. With that, the Black and Whites became the most successful club in the history of the competition, one title clear of Crvena Zvezda. By quarter, the game ran 26-26, 22-18, 22-15 and 20-16 to Partizan; the decisive stretch was the middle of the third quarter, when the hosts, behind Brandon Davies’s defence and three made threes, opened a 16-point lead.
The stat sheet and the key moments in front of 21,434 fans
Carlik Jones, with 17 points, was the most efficient player for the hosts, adding five assists and four rebounds. Brandon Davies put up 14 points and nine rebounds, with five steals, probably his best defensive showing of the season. Vanja Marinkovic added 12 points with three threes in the third quarter. For Buducnost, Will Ferrell led all scorers with 23 points, but on 31 percent shooting from the field, not enough to win a final. Nemanja Bezbradica and Edin Atic added 10 each.
The arena was full to the last seat, 21,434 fans by the organisers’ count, a record for an ABA League final over the last five seasons. The atmosphere through the first twelve minutes was even and unemotional, as if both teams knew the decision had to come in the third quarter or not at all. At halftime, Partizan led 48-44, but not by a margin that gave comfort. Obradovic, in the locker room, told players, according to a statement he gave to the club website after the game, just one thing: “Everything starts now. Everything that came before was preparation.”
What next, where does Partizan go?
With its eighth ABA title, Partizan heads into the summer break with an open question about the contract extension of coach Obradovic, whose current deal runs until June 2027. Obradovic, speaking to reporters after the game, said he had not yet thought about an extension, adding that “this club has many reasons for optimism.” The club also enters negotiations with Carlik Jones, whose contract also expires at the end of the season, and with Brandon Davies, whom three EuroLeague clubs have contacted in the past month.
On the other side, Buducnost from Podgorica enters a rebuild. Head coach Andrej Zakelj said after the game he takes responsibility for the series, but did not announce a resignation. Will Ferrell said his next three seasons were planned in Podgorica, but that the decision is not yet final. The Montenegrin club returns to the EuroCup next season, with the right to try to climb back into the EuroLeague through qualifiers.
Personally, I do not see Partizan’s eighth title as a tipping of the historical ledger over Crvena Zvezda in the regional league, but as confirmation that the club, with Obradovic on the bench, has a systemic model that delivers results regardless of the roster. A club that has gone through at least seven serious roster changes in the last four years, and that has won two ABA titles and a Cup with the same coach in that period, shows that in Serbian basketball, continuity in the coaching project is worth more than individual quality.
The next ABA League season begins on September 27, 2026, with a new competition structure that includes two new clubs from Ljubljana and Vienna.
