Juancho Hernangómez changes teams again. It is his fourth trade in less than two years, the third since August, when he was sent from Minnesota to Memphis (after the ugly mess that cost him his place in the Games), the transit station to the Boston Celtics, the team in which he started the season with renewed enthusiasm but in which he has had neither luck nor too many opportunities. Now he will play for the San Antonio Spurs under Gregg Popovich.
The operation is three-way between Spurs, Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics. The Nuggets take over the shooting guard Bryn Forbes, who leaves a Spurs that receive Juancho from Boston and a second round of 2028. The Nuggets transfer Bol Bol, the son of the remembered Manute Bol and PJ Dozier to the Boston Celtics. At a sports level, the most interesting movement is that of the Nuggets, who usually have a lot of trouble scoring outside despite Nikola Jokic’s excellent distribution, and who take on Forbes to put more three-pointers off the bench. Forbes (28 years old) has scored 41% of his three-pointers this season in his second spell at the Spurs, which has just ended. Last year he played in Milwaukee, where he became champion with Giannis Antetokounmpo’s Bucks.
The Celtics get Dozier, who will be out for the season with a knee injury, and Bol Bol, who has had surgery on his foot and will not play for three or four monthsAt the very least, after an injury was detected that aborted his trade to the Detroit Pistons last week. According to Adrian Wojnarowski (ESPN), the Celtics are not going to cut either of them for now. His great objective with the transfer was to get rid of Juancho’s contract. In this way, about three million dollars are saved that they serve to put, in addition, below the amount that makes them payers of the luxury tax.
The Spurs, for their part, will have the Spanish forward and the second round that they take from Boston. The Texan team has a role with minutes in the power forward position, so Juancho may have more opportunities from now on. Those that the veteran Thaddeus Young is having (who could be transferred before the market closes on February 10) and those that the injured Zach Collins has not yet been able to have, who is finalizing his return to the tracks. At 16-28, in the lower West and two and a half games from the play in, The first need of the Texan team is to build a good block for the future, not compete to be in some playoffs that have not played for two seasons after not having missed them since 1997.
For the Celtics the accounts were clear: Bol Bol earns 2.1 million dollars this season and Dozier, 1.9. Neither of them has any money guaranteed for the next one. There are about 4 million for the almost 7 that Juancho receives, hence the substantial savings. The Spaniard signed a three-year, 21 million contract with the Timberwolves in November 2020. He had just had his best stretch in the NBA after being traded by the Nuggets. He is now in the second year of that contract, the last guaranteed. For the next season, 2022-23, he has 7.4 million signed but they are not guaranteed until June 30. That is, his team can secure the contract until that date, and it will be in those amounts, or he will be completely free otherwise. In that hypothesis, Juancho (26 years old) would contemplate all his options, also the return to European basketball.
It is a determining moment for Juancho’s future NBA. With minutes and a new role under the orders of Gregg Popovich, he could recover sensations and possibilities for the future. If it doesn’t count for much between now and the end of the season, returning to Spain will seem like a very real option., for the personal and for the sport. He has been in the NBA since 2016. His first destination was the Denver Nuggets, where he played more than three seasons with promising sensations before being transferred to the Timberwolves in February 2020, in another multiple transfer. There he had that aforementioned very good season finale: starter with almost 30 minutes per game, 12.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 42% in triples. And signed his good contract, but the following season he lost ownership, his minutes sank and a very unpleasant moment came for him: the transfer to the Grizzlies in August 2021 after a medical disagreement with the Wolves, who already suspected his departure and did not want him worsen the shoulder injury that ultimately ruled him out of the Tokyo Olympics. He did not make his debut with the Grizzlies and in September he was sent to the Celtics, where a good opportunity opened up for him in a top-level team in the East and which had a new coach. But in Boston nothing has gone well: he has only played a total of 96 minutes in 18 games (5.3 on average, and that When it plays) Y his averages have dropped to 1.1 points and 1.4 rebounds on 18% shooting from the field.
Since December 27, Juancho has only played 90 seconds, on January 8 in the final moments of a Celtics-Knicks that was already sentenced. The one who was his coach until today, the former ACB Ime Udoka, he hasn’t counted on him at all, and he hasn’t played substantially even when the Celtics have racked up problems of injuries, COVID protocols… The passage through Boston has been negro for him forward from Madrid. Now we have to see if things improve in San Antonio or if an ostracism remains that could be decisive for a future that will be totally up in the air, and maybe with the aroma of big move across the Atlantic, if his contract hasn’t been guaranteed come July.
