Gijón Baloncesto was established in 1982, after taking over the franchise of another local team, Real Grupo de Cultura Covadonga, who was undergoing financial difficulties.

In its first year, the club played in the third tier and immediately promoted to Primera División B, the second division in the Spanish league system.

GB continued playing in the second tier from 1984 to 1995, when the club achieves promotion to Liga ACB after finishing runner-up of the 1994–95 Liga EBA and beating Lucentum in the semifinal game.

It came back to ACB in 1999 by beating Menorca 3–0 in the semifinal of the promotion playoffs.

In this second era in ACB, Gijón Baloncesto remained for three seasons until the relegation in 2002.