The NBA regular season resumed on Thursday after the traditional and brief break for the All Star Weekend dispute with many things still to be resolved before the ‘playoffs‘. For the majority of Spanish players present in the league, however, the rest of the season offers few incentives.
There are six Spanish players in the best league in the world and only two of them enjoy a certain regular presence, Serge Ibaka and Willy Hernangomez. The one who enjoyed the highest hierarchy of all of them was Ricky Rubiobut an untimely injury soon left him in the gutter.
Juancho Hernangomez, meanwhile, is experiencing its worst campaign on the other side of the Atlantic and aims to return to Spain in the summer. The rookies close the list Saints Aldama and Usman Garubawith a residual presence in their teams and participation in the Development League.
Ricky Rubio
The Cleveland Cavaliers point guard was in one of the best moments of his entire career when injuries once again crossed his path. In this case, the torture was an old acquaintance: rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament of the left knee.
It happened on December 29 in a match against the New Orleans Pelicans, a duel in which he was adding 27 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists in 37 minutes of play, once again leading one of the revelation teams in the NBA.
Now, the Catalan base is immersed in a recovery process that will last at least 10 months. In that transition, he was traded to the Indiana Pacers, a team in which he will not make his debut, since his current contract expires this summer.
At 31 years old, he aspired to sign what was perhaps the best contract of his life, something that his physical condition calls into question, given that he will hardly reach the start of the next regular season and an injury of this type always raises doubts in the franchises. .
Serge Ibaka
The center born in the Congo is the oldest on the list, with 12 seasons of experience in the best league in the world. His impact, however, is already far from what he enjoyed in his best years in Toronto, where he won the ring in the 2018/19 season.
Ibaka started the season at the Los Angeles Clippers, with a minor rotation role, just 15 minutes on average per game on the court and very discreet numbers. His recent transfer to the Milwaukee Bucks, Giannis Antetokounmpo’s team, may increase his presence and especially his chances of pursuing a second title.
Like Ricky Rubio, he will be a free agent at the end of the season and will be able to choose his future. His physical problems are also an asterisk and he will start next season already 33 years old.
Willy Hernangomez
In his fifth season in the NBA, the Spanish center is averaging the best numbers of his career, nine points and almost seven rebounds per game, although he participates somewhat less than in his previous year, also in the New Orleans Pelicans.
The oldest of the Hernángomez also has the guarantee of having two more years of contract ahead of him, although in a franchise that has not finished putting together a project that allows him to put his head in the ‘playoffs’.
Juancho Hernangomez
The youngest of the Hernangómez brothers has had a season to forget in the NBA, with two transfers in between, by far the most disappointing of the five that he already has in the best league in the world, just six minutes per game played.
He began the course at the Boston Celtics, was later transferred to the San Antonio Spurs and after just five games his contract ended in the hands of the Utah Jazz. This year alone he has played on more teams than he did in the rest of his NBA career.
With an increasingly dwindling presence and no guaranteed contract for next season, the most plausible option is for him to return to the ACB League next season. Real Madrid and Barcelona, just in case, are already on the prowl.
Usman Garuba
Despite being chosen in the first round of the last draft, the young former Real Madrid player has not yet managed to find a stable spot in the Houston Rockets. At 19 years old, he has spent the entire season combining the Development League with the NBA.
He has enjoyed only 105 minutes of play, spread over 15 games, in the best league in the world, with a very low impact, just 1.3 points and 2.3 rebounds on each game night.
In addition to his limited presence on the pitches, last month he suffered a wrist injury that will leave him sidelined for a few more weeks. He probably won’t play anymore this season, given that the Rockets won’t make the playoffs.
Saints Aldama
The other Spanish rookie this season is enjoying a little more presence than Garuba, although he is not enjoying his dream debut with the Memphis Grizzlies, who acquired him after being drafted by the Utah Jazz.
He has participated in 27 games, an average of 10 minutes in each of them, scoring 3.3 points and capturing 2.4 rebounds. He had the pleasure, yes, of adding 18 + 10 in his best performance of the season, in November against Oklahoma.
Like Garuba, he has also had a presence in the Development League, although only a couple of games. In the last one he had 29 points and eight rebounds, claiming to be a player with a future.
