Tribute to the champs: Gabriel Deck

Small forward Gabriel Deck enjoyed one of the finest seasons of his career and played a key role for Real Madrid throughout the season, which ended prematurely for him due to a knee injury suffered in the playoffs. Deck set career highs in nearly every statistical category as he averaged 12.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists in 26:02 minutes over 31 games. His performance index rating of 15.7 ranked 13th in the league.

Deck started the season strong and set a pair of personal bests in the first month of the campaign. On opening night, he collected 13 rebounds in a road win at Panathinaikos Athens. He then poured in 28 points and posted a PIR of 33 in Round 5 against Virtus Segafredo Bologna. Deck would match that PIR total twice more during the season, against FC Barcelona in Round 21 and against Partizan Mozzart Bet Belgrade in the first game of their playoff series.

When the pressure was on in the playoffs, Deck proved up to the challenge. He only missed a single shot from the field in Game 1 en route to 24 points plus 8 rebounds in Game 1. Deck was suspended for Game 3 after his role in the altercation at the end of the second game of the series, but returned to the starting lineup for Game 4 and posted 14 points. However, in the closing minutes of that game, Partizan player Zach LeDay collided with Deck while chasing a loose ball. It left Deck with a ruptured internal collateral ligament in his left knee and he could not play again for the remainder of the season.

The 28-year-old Deck has played five seasons with Los Blancos and is his collection of skills and willingness to adapt his game to whatever his team needs on a given night or against a given opponent has made a valuable asset to his teammates and coaches. Moreover, thanks to his aggressive style of play, Deck is beloved by the Madrid faithful. All of the above will hope that Deck makes a full recovery in time to open the season with his teammates as a key cog in Real Madrid’s title defense.