It happened last Thursday. The New Orleans Pelicans were visiting the Toronto Raptors and before the game two rival players greeted each other affectionately and followed each other’s training. They were Willy and Juancho Hernangómez, the pair of Spanish brothers who, years after the Gasols, shared an adventure in the NBA. But that meeting was the closest they got to the court and the ball all night. Neither of them played for a second, a reflection of the enormous difficulty they have encountered this season in the American League despite both returning as Eurobasket champions with Spain. Willy was chosen the best player of the tournament that crowned the team in Berlin and Juancho dynamited the final against France with his triples. That letter of introduction has not served them well in the NBA, and while Willy barely accumulates minutes in the Pelicans, the Toronto Raptors have just dispensed with Juancho to make room for the signing of Will Barton.
The youngest of the Hernangómez brothers sees the contract year that he had signed last summer with the Raptors, his last American stop after previously passing through Denver, Minnesota, Boston, San Antonio and Utah, broken. Wearing the Canadian franchise jersey, the 27-year-old, 2.06m power forward has participated in 42 games this season, averaging 14 minutes, 2.9 points and 2.9 rebounds per game. His dismissal, despite everything, allows him to collect the full year of his contract, which he had guaranteed for the minimum amount in the competition: 2.3 million dollars for one season. Sportingly, his future remains up in the air. Juancho is now a free agent to sign for another NBA team that could recruit him for the final playoffs, or could open the door for a return to Europe. The deadline for Euroleague teams to register players ends this Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.
“I want to continue in the NBA, I don’t see myself returning to Europe yet,” commented Juancho Hernangómez in an interview in EL PAÍS last June, before signing for the Raptors. He then closed a course in which in five months he went through three teams (Boston, San Antonio and Utah), and in which he came to lose “the love of basketball” after a tough start with the Celtics. “I was not comfortable there, it was very hard. There was no communication, I did not know what was expected of me, there were many very selfish players, there was no team, ”he admitted. Happiness on the track returned after a brief two-week stay in San Antonio in which he marveled at the figure of Gregg Popovich and especially with a final stretch in Utah in which he once again enjoyed and competed.
The definitive redemption came for him this past summer at the Eurobasket, with the culmination of a final against France (88-76) that he blew up with six straight three-pointers without a miss in the third quarter, and the award for the best player of the meeting. Many merits in Europe that have not served him as much in the NBA.
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