Former G League Ignite star Izan Almansa commits to Gonzaga

Mark Few and the Gonzaga Bulldogs have dipped into the international well to bolster their ranks once again, although this most recent addition comes with a twist.

6'10 forward Izan Almansa, who is currently playing for Real Madrid in Spain, committed to the Zags for the 2026-27 season. While he joins the Bulldogs from Spain, he has previous experience playing with the short-lived G League Ignite in the 2023-24 season - making him the first Zag commit to have experience in the G League.

Almansa is also the first Gonzaga player to have previously played in the NBA summer league. He declared for the draft in 2024 and 2025. He went undrafted in 2025 but played in five summer league games with the Philadelphia 76ers, averaging 4.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 11 minutes per game.

The 6'10 big man joins a frontcourt that includes fellow Real Madrid alumn Massamba Diop - who transferred to Gonzaga after an excellent freshman season at Arizona State - as well as redshirt senior Braden Huff, redshirt freshman Parker Jefferson, and incoming freshman Sam Funches.

Almansa turned 19 on June 7, 2024, which is when his five-year clock officially started ticking. That means, per the new NCAA rules, Almansa is eligible to play college basketball through the 2028-29 season.

Who is Izan Almansa?

Almansa was recruited to play for Real Madrid as a teenager, and eventually decided to head stateside to play for Overtime Elite - a professional league for high school-aged players - ahead of its inaugural season in 2021-22. He averaged 6.4 points and 5.0 rebounds for OTE before joining the YNG Dreamerz, one of six teams in the restructured OTE league, in 2023, where he averaged 9.3 points and 8.6 rebounds.

From there, Almansa joined the ill-fated G League Ignite, where he appeared in 48 games in the 2023-24 season. Almansa - who was teammates with NBA star Matas Buzelis as well as former Zags Jeremy Pargo, Admon Gilder, and David Stockton - averaged 10.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists per game. He was chosen to compete in the Rising Stars Challenge at the 2024 NBA All-Star Weekend, losing to a team that included Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, and Benn Mathurin.

After pulling his name from the NBA draft, Almansa signed with the Perth Wildcats for 2024-25, averaging 6.9 points and 3.9 rebounds. After getting an invite to the green room for the second round of the 2025 NBA draft - and being the only prospect invited who did not get selected - Almansa spent part of the summer with the 76ers in the NBA summer league before returning to Real Madrid for the 2025-26 season.

In 13 games with Real Madrid, the 20-year-old is averaging 4.8 points and 1.9 rebounds while shooting 71.4% from the field.

Fit at Gonzaga

Almansa brings a bevy of experience with him to Spokane, having played against superstars at nearly every level. It's not often you get a guy on your roster who participated in the NBA All-Star Weekend, but that is the state of affairs in college basketball in 2026.

At 6'10 and with good mobility, Almansa can play either the four or the five for Gonzaga, and should compete with Jefferson to be the team's third big behind Huff and Diop.

The big man has looked like a capable floor spacer throughout his career - part of what got him early NBA attention, but he hasn't cashed in consistently from beyond the arc. Still, he's a strong rebounder and passer for his position, and provides crucial depth to Gonzaga's frontcourt at a time when the options were running exceptionally thin.

Almansa becomes the latest G Leaguer to join the college ranks, joining former teammates Dink Pate (Providence), Thierry Darlan (Santa Clara) and London Johnson (Louisville).

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