José Antonio Querejeta retired as a player. A few weeks after his retirement, offered himself as a candidate for the presidency of the club and José Antonio Santamaría gave his position to the former player, being one of the youngest presidents of the ACB. As president, began the process of converting the club into a Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, as required by the Sports Law. The club became the first Spanish professional sport club to carry out this transformation and was born under the name of Saski-Baskonia S.A.D.. The Baskonia of José Antonio Querejeta wanted to take another step in the professionalization of the club taking as an example the NBA franchises and began to make his first important bets, the signing of Chicho Sibilio after being one of the stars of FC Barcelona. Puerto Rican pivot from the Boston Celtics, Ramón Rivas and the signing of the Argentine Marcelo Nicola who signed a 10-year deal as a franchise player in which the club would settle in the 90s. The objective was to overcome the seventh place in the final standings that would allow the pass to compete in European competitions. Despite these important bets, the 1989–90 season the club failed to take that step forward. Halfway through the season, Manu Moreno was sacked as coach and the Željko Pavličević signed after a brilliant record in Cibona. However, the team fell in the first round of playoffs against Real Madrid and closed his short stay in Vitoria-Gasteiz as a head coach. 1990–2010: introducing in European basketball and first trophies With José Antonio Querejeta as president, the club grows exponentially. Herb Brown signed as head coach and Alfredo Salazar began his travels through Argentina to capture talent. In 1991, the club left Polideportivo Mendizorrotza to move to the Araba Arena, which lived its extension from 5,000 to 9,500 spectators at the end of the decade. In 1993, Manel Comas signed as head coach. With Manel Comas, the team won its first Spanish King's Cup, when Pablo Laso and Velimir Perasović led the team to an historical win. The club was already making noise internationally too, reaching the FIBA European Cup final in both 1994 and 1995. When it hosted the same title game in 1996, the team pleased its many fans by downing PAOK behind 31 points from Ramón Rivas. After the departure of Manel Comas, Sergio Scariolo signed as head coach.