Written with the help of artificial-intelligence tools and checked by automated controls.
A year ago, Lucas Beaufort left Limoges for Saint-Chamond, a club in the lower half of the Pro B table. A risky bet for a player trained at SIG Strasbourg, who had passed through the Elite and CSP. "It's make or break," he summed up at the time. The verdict is in: the 24-year-old combo guard has signed with BAXI Manresa, a club in the Spanish Liga Endesa, for the next three seasons. Better still: he will also discover the Eurocup, the second continental competition. The leap is spectacular.
The Saint-Chamond bet
Arriving in the Loire in the summer of 2025, Lucas Beaufort was coming off two mediocre seasons at Limoges.
Arriving in the Loire in the summer of 2025, Lucas Beaufort was coming off two mediocre seasons at Limoges. "I didn't show the aggressiveness they expected of me," he admitted to the Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace. At Saint-Chamond, the former U20 international found playing time and welcome freedom: 9.1 points and 4 assists per game. The collective record remained modest — a sixteenth-place finish and the mid-season dismissal of coach Guillaume Quintard — but the Strasbourg native did what was needed to attract attention. His consistent production on both ends of the floor did not go unnoticed despite a roster with limited resources.
And not just any attention. As early as autumn 2025, Biel Colominas, Manresa's general manager, made initial contact. He followed up in early April 2026. "When my agent told me the GM of a Liga club was going to call me, I was like crazy, I could barely sleep," Beaufort recounts. The official signing came on June 1: a three-year contract with an optional additional season.
Liga and Europe on the agenda
With Manresa, the native of the Krutenau joins a championship of another dimension. The Liga Endesa is considered by many to be the toughest domestic league on the continent. "I don't know if it's ever happened," Beaufort wonders about this direct jump from Pro B to the Spanish elite. "It's crazy."
The Catalan club, eleventh in the Liga last season with eight wins and eleven losses, has built its reputation on intense basketball. "The coach wants a lot of full-court pressure, you have to be glued to your man at all times and, on offense, run," describes the Frenchman. A style reminiscent of Paris Basketball and suited to his primary qualities: explosiveness, aggressive defense on positions 1 to 3, and transition play.
In the Eurocup, Manresa reached the round of 16 last season. Beaufort could face PAOK Thessaloniki, or even AS Monaco if the Principality club wins its case before the commercial court on July 31. Competition will be tough at the point guard spot, where Spaniard Ferran Bassas and Frenchman Hugo Benitez combined for 20.8 points and 10.7 assists per game in the league.
An Alsatian challenge on Spanish soil
Lucas Beaufort is not landing in completely unknown territory. His childhood friend Clément Frisch, a winger from Illkirch of the same age, has just completed his first season in Vitoria. "The step will be high for Lucas, as it was for me," warns Frisch. "He'll have to hit a wall. He's going into a structured team with twelve real pros, and he'll be a piece of the puzzle." The message is clear: no excessive expectations in the immediate term, but gradual integration into an already well-oiled rotation.
Beaufort will be the third Alsatian to play in the Liga next season, alongside Frisch and the 33-year-old Haguenau native Léo Westermann, a former French international, promoted with Obradoiro. A small regional contingent that says a lot about the vitality of basketball in the Grand Est region.
For the main man himself, the essentials lie elsewhere. "I'm still young, this will be my first experience abroad and I have everything to prove," he confides. A year after betting on himself by accepting a step down, Lucas Beaufort has earned his ticket to the next level. Far beyond what he imagined. Summer preparation is approaching: the big departure for Catalonia now gives concrete form to what seemed like a dream just a few months ago.