Coming into the season as the Eurocup champion, Khimki already made noise in the regular season when it beat Real Madrid both at home and in the Spanish capital. Coach Rimas Kurtinaitis guided the team to a strong start to the Top 16, too, with 4-1 record behind the play of Tyrese Rice, Alexey Shved, and four home wins. But trouble came on the road and streak of four losses in five games brought about a coaching change and Dusko Ivanovic took over. Khimki stayed in the playoff contention until the very end, but a road loss in a do-or-die game at Real Madrid finished its season with a 7-7 Top 16 record.

History

Khimki Moscow Region is entering its 20th season, but in that short span has built a habit of winning often, and contending for all the trophies. Founded in 1997, it took the club only six years to make the Russian League semifinals, and the first of three straight Russian Cup semifinal appearances. In 2006, Khimki reached the Russian League and Russian Cup finals, but fell to CSKA in both, while Joventut Badalona beat Khimki in the 2006 FIBA EuroCup final. The young club’s hard work paid off when it downed CSKA in the 2007 Russian Cup final for the club's first crown of any kind. That season, it also reached the first of three consecutive Russian League finals and made its ULEB Cup debut, reaching the Last 16. The club made more big strides in 2008-09 by reaching the Eurocup title game, but fell short against Lietuvos Rytas. In its Turkish Airlines Euroleague debut a year leater, Khimki showed it was not an average newcomer and reached the Top 16. The club added more silverware to the trophy room by winning the VTB League in 2011 at CSKA’s expense, and a year later Khimki downed Valencia Basket in 2012 Eurocup Finals for its first continental title behind the play of Zoran Planinic, Vitaly Fridzon and Kreso Loncar. The following season, Khimki’s third Euroleague campaign finished a win short of a place in the playoffs, but it was also the first of the two straight title-free seasons. However, Khimki learned from its mistakes in the 2014-15 season. The team won its regular season and Last 32 groups and swept three of its four elimination round series – including the Eurocup Finals against Herbalife Gran Canaria Las Palmas. It was an outstanding season in which Tyrese Rice was chosen as the Eurocup MVP and also earned Eurocup Finals MVP honors. Petteri Koponen joined Rice on the All-Eurocup First Team and Rimas Kurtinaitis became the first head coach to win the competition three times. That season Khimki also reached the VTB League finals, but lost to CSKA. Last season, Khimki swept Lokomotiv Kuban Krasnodar in the VTB League playoff quarterfinals, but was ousted in the semis by eventual champion CSKA.