JL Bourg announces eight departures, but not (yet) Benitez’s

With its 2024-2025 season completed, JL Bourg-en-Bresse has announced the departure of nine players from its roster. Maksim Salash, Xavier Castañeda, Jordan Usher, Jean-Marc Pansa, Brandon Jefferson, Joël Ayayi, Tai Webster and Gauthier Denis will no longer be part of the club next season.

End of a chapter 🔴⚪

As every summer, it’s time to bid farewell to those who proudly wore our colors and are now heading to new horizons.

Thread to scroll through – 1/3 ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/0N7NYdAXNi

— JL Bourg Basket (@JLBourgBasket) June 11, 2025

Benitez also departing

In addition to these eight names, Hugo Benitez is also expected to leave JL Bourg. The point guard has a release clause in his contract that he can activate before June 15. According to our information, he is set to join a Spanish club and fulfill one of his dreams: playing in Liga Endesa. Manresa, based in Spanish Catalonia, is very interested in the Catalan point guard. If he were to join the BCL team, he would be playing just 2 hours and 15 minutes from his hometown of Toulouges, near Perpignan.

« As of today, there’s no information indicating he’s leaving, » president Julien Desbottes told Le Progrès on Wednesday. « Obviously, clubs are interested in him. What Hugo told me is that if he were to leave, he would call me directly and would also call Freddy (Fauthoux). Given the quality of our relationship, he wouldn’t go through his agent. Hugo might get interesting offers, but from clubs that are less well-organized than ours. He might also want to complete his final contract year with JL Bourg so we can achieve something together and make the most of everything we’ve accomplished. We’ll know by midnight on June 15. »

[Player profile sections omitted for brevity]

What about Courby?

As for Maxime Courby, he couldn’t hold back tears after the semifinal elimination against Paris. What can we deduce about his situation, as he’s been questioning his final contract year for months? « We need to see his place on next year’s roster, his physical condition too, because he suffered a lot throughout the year, » responds president Julien Desbottes in Le Progrès. One thing is certain, despite contracts, we know that Kevin Kokila is the only player guaranteed to stay next year.

[Remaining player profile sections and details about other departures omitted for brevity]

Time for recruitment now

This wave of departures explains JL Bourg-en-Bresse’s activity in the transfer market. Indeed, four players have already signed: Yvann Mbaya, Antony Labanca, Narcisse Ngoy (who will be loaned to Poitiers) and Assemian Moulare have already committed.