Juancho Hernangomez Rumors

World Cup Notes: Canada Vs. Spain, Australia, Finland, Egypt

September 2nd, 2023 at 6:49pm CST by Arthur Hill

Spain’s Juancho Hernangomez and Willy Hernangomez are the players that Canada’s Dillon Brooks is most concerned about as the teams prepare for their showdown on Sunday, writes Antonis Stroggylakis of Eurohoops. It’s a high-stakes meeting that will determine who will move on to the quarterfinals and who will be eliminated, and although both nations have rosters loaded with NBA players, Brooks believes the Hernangomez brothers have many ways to control the game.

“They create a lot of mismatches for their team and the other teams,” Brooks said. “We got to match up their physicality and play harder than them.”

Neither team expected to be on the brink of elimination so early, but things changed on Friday as Spain lost to Latvia while Canada fell to Brazil, setting up Sunday’s do-or-die contest. Brooks’ teammate, RJ Barrett, is worried about the advantage that Spain has through more exposure to international competition.

“Their biggest thing is their experience,” Barrett said. “Many of them are EuroLeague champions. They have guys who’ve been playing FIBA basketball basically their whole lives. That’s what we’re going up against.”

There’s more on the World Cup:

Australia needs to evaluate its national team after being knocked out early, contends Olgun Uluc of ESPN. The Australians’ efforts to mix older and younger talent haven’t been successful, Uluc adds, and his solution is to build the team around Josh Giddey, with Patty Mills, Josh Green and Jock Landale holding the only other guaranteed spots for the 2024 Olympics. “I think we’re in the process of change, and style of play — both offensively and defensively — and we’re all disappointed but I’m excited where this thing can go,” coach Brian Goorjian said after his team was eliminated by Slovenia. “Definitely a clearer picture after playing this tournament.” Goorjian’s contract expires after the World Cup, but he’s expected to coach the Boomers in the Olympics, according to Uluc.
Finland appears headed to a pre-Olympic qualifier after defeating Venezuela on Saturday, according to Eurohoops. Lauri Markkanen scored 32 points as Finland picked up its second victory of the tournament.
A two-point loss to New Zealand on Saturday prevented Egypt from earning an automatic Olympic bid, per NetsDaily. The team, which features Brooklyn training camp invite Patrick Gardner, will have to earn a spot through next summer’s qualifying tournament.

Juancho Hernangomez Joins Panathinaikos On Two-Year Deal

July 26th, 2023 at 5:51pm CST by Arthur Hill

Juancho Hernangomez is returning to Europe after seven NBA seasons, tweets Greek basketball writer George Zakkas, who confirms that Hernangomez has signed a two-year contract with Panathinaikos.

The 27-year-old forward has been a free agent since being waived by the Raptors at the end of February when the team signed Will Barton. Hernangomez spent less than a full season in Toronto and averaged 2.9 points and 2.9 rebounds in 42 games.

There was a report earlier this month that Hernangomez might join his brother in Barcelona, but he wanted to seek another NBA opportunity before committing to playing overseas. When that didn’t happen, Hernangomez accepted the offer from Panathinaikos.

A native of Madrid, Spain, Hernangomez played four seasons for his hometown club, Estudiantes, before being drafted by Denver with the 15th pick in 2016. He was traded to Minnesota after three-and-a-half seasons with the Nuggets and later had short stays with the Celtics, Spurs and Jazz before coming to Toronto.

Hernangomez, best known to some fans of Bo Cruz in the Netflix film ‘Hustle,’ has career averages of 5.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 339 NBA games.

And-Ones: Waiters, Wade, Hernangomez, C. Brown

July 14th, 2023 at 12:24pm CST by Luke Adams

Speaking to Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report after a workout for teams in Las Vegas this week, veteran guard Dion Waiters openly discussed the reasons he has been out of the NBA for the last three seasons and what he feels he needs to do to earn another shot. According to Waiters, he took his time in the NBA for granted, so his exit from the league has been a learning experience that he has been able to pass along to his son.

“I told him, ‘Bro, your dad is not [out of] the league because of talent. It was my attitude, my character, and not understanding that it’s bigger than me,'” Waiters said. “I feel like I had to go through this so I could explain that to my son, and that’s the dead truth.”

A former fourth overall pick, Waiters has appeared in 419 regular season games, but hasn’t played in the NBA since 2020. Still just 31, the former Syracuse standout tells Haynes that he feels like he still has “a lot left in the tank” and that he believes he can be a positive leader in the locker room in addition to helping a team on the court.

“I’m healthy. I just want that opportunity just to show I’m not who I once was. And I know a lot of people talk about that, but for me, I think it’s more about showing that I’ve changed,” Waiters said. “That’s why I’m here, man. I still got that love. I still got that itch.”

Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Dwyane Wade, a 13-time NBA All-Star who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in August, has invested in the WNBA’s Chicago Sky and will become part of the team’s ownership group, writes Alexa Philippou of ESPN.com. “It’s a great opportunity to be a part of the league in its very early stages,” Wade said. “… Growth is going to happen, and so I want to be a part of the growth of this league.”
While there have been rumblings that Juancho Hernangomez may join brother Willy Hernangomez in signing with FC Barcelona, Juancho said in a conversation with Spanish outlet Marca that “speculation is just speculation” and stressed that he remains focused on finding another NBA job, as Alessandro Maggi of Sportando relays.
Free agent guard Charlie Brown Jr. has been a standout for the Knicks at the Las Vegas Summer League, averaging 17.3 PPG and 6.0 RPG in three games (28.4 MPG). Zach Braziller of The New York Post takes a closer look at the play of Brown, who is hoping that his performance in Vegas will inspire a team to sign him for training camp.
In an entertaining article for The Athletic, John Hollinger discusses the eight “nerdiest” things that happened in free agency, digging into the details of the Rockets’ sign-and-trade for Dillon Brooks, Paul Reed‘s offer sheet, and Oklahoma City becoming a dumping ground for unwanted contracts, among other moves.

Willy Hernangomez Expected To Join Barcelona

July 7th, 2023 at 9:39am CST by Luke Adams

After spending the last seven seasons in the NBA, Willy Hernangomez is expected to head back home to continue his playing career. FC Barcelona has submitted an offer sheet for the Spanish big man, per a press release from Spain’s ACB league.

Although Real Madrid – Hernangomez’s former team before he arrived in the NBA – has the right to match Barcelona’s offer, Madrid doesn’t intend to take advantage of its opportunity to do so, reports Stavros Barbarousis of Eurohoops.net. That will clear a path for Hernangomez to end up in Barcelona.

The 35th overall pick in the 2015 draft, Hernangomez arrived in the NBA with the Knicks in 2016. He spent a season-and-a-half in New York before moving onto Charlotte and then New Orleans, where he has played for the last three seasons.

A backup center for the Pelicans, Hernangomez appeared in 135 games across three seasons, averaging 8.0 points and 6.3 rebounds in 15.9 minutes per contest. New Orleans declined its $2.6MM team option for the 2023/24 season on the 29-year-old’s contract last month, putting him on track to return to Europe.

It’s possible Hernangomez will reunite with his brother Juancho Hernangomez in Barcelona. According to Barbarousis, the team has made an offer to Juancho, who spent part of last season with the Raptors before being waived in February.

Raptors Sign Will Barton, Waive Juancho Hernangomez

February 28th, 2023 at 3:56pm CST by Luke Adams

3:56pm: The Raptors have officially signed Barton and waived Hernangomez, the team announced in a press release.

2:35pm: The Raptors are making a change to their 15-man roster, having reached an agreement to sign veteran swingman Will Barton, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter).

Shams Charania of The Athletic reports (via Twitter) that the team is waiving Juancho Hernangomez to create an opening for Barton.

Barton became a free agent last week after he reached a buyout agreement with the Wizards. Having been packaged with Monte Morris in an offseason trade that sent Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Ish Smith to Denver, Barton had a disappointing season for his hometown team in D.C., averaging just 7.7 points per game on 38.7% shooting in 40 appearances (19.6 MPG).

Still, Barton’s three-point shooting remained strong (38.0%) in 2022/23 and he had several solid years with the Nuggets before last summer’s trade. The 32-year-old will add some depth to a Raptors team that has lacked consistent bench production this season. Toronto also ranks just 27th in the NBA in three-point shooting percentage (33.5%), so signing Barton will give the team another outside threat.

Hernangomez, who starred as Bo Cruz in the Netflix film Hustle, was seeing regular minutes for the Raptors earlier this season, but struggled to produce consistently and had fallen out of the rotation in recent weeks. Although the 6’9″ forward has been effective as a stretch four in past years, he made a career-low 25.4% of his three-point attempts in Toronto, averaging just 2.9 PPG and 2.9 RPG in 42 appearances (14.6 MPG).

Because he’ll be waived by March 1, Hernangomez will retain his playoff eligibility in the event that he signs with another NBA team before the end of the regular season.

As Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca notes (via Twitter), because his deal will only cover the last few weeks of the season, the Raptors are in position to stay narrowly below the luxury tax line after signing Barton.

Raptors’ Anunoby Expected To Miss At Least One Week

December 13th, 2022 at 12:06pm CST by Luke Adams

After missing Sunday’s game in Orlando due to left hip soreness, Raptors forward OG Anunoby is expected to remain on the shelf for another week before being reevaluated, tweets Eric Koreen of The Athletic.

According to Koreen, imaging on Anunoby’s hip injury didn’t show anything “troubling,” so it sounds like it shouldn’t be a long-term problem. Still, the timing isn’t great for the injury-plagued Raptors, who are already missing two other rotation players in their frontcourt.

Veteran forward Otto Porter Jr., who is dealing with a dislocated toe, visited with a specialist and it was determined that surgery isn’t necessary at this point, per Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link). However, head coach Nick Nurse expects Porter to be sidelined for another month, Lewenberg adds.

Meanwhile, forward/center Precious Achiuwa has done some light on-court work in practice as he recovers from an ankle injury and is said to be making progress. But Toronto still doesn’t anticipate having him back in action until sometime in January, tweets Lewenberg.

On the plus side, after missing the last four games due to a right ankle sprain, Raptors forward Juancho Hernangomez practiced on Tuesday and should be activated for Wednesday’s game vs. Sacramento, tweets Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. With Anunoby, Porter, and Achiuwa all unavailable, Hernangomez figures to reclaim a spot in the club’s regular rotation.

Raptors Notes: Achiuwa, Young, Hernangomez, Barnes, Trent

November 29th, 2022 at 7:31am CST by Luke Adams

Raptors big man Precious Achiuwa has been sidelined since November 9 after sustaining partial ligament tears in his right ankle and will remain on the shelf for the foreseeable future. Head coach Nick Nurse told reporters on Monday that it will be another two or three weeks before the team even has a clearer sense of a timeline for Achiuwa’s return, tweets Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca.

One silver lining of Achiuwa’s injury is that it has given two other Raptors bigs an opportunity to prove their mettle as regular contributors.

Veteran forward/center Thaddeus Young has averaged 10.1 PPG, 6.4 RPG, 3.1 APG, and 1.6 SPG in eight games (26.7 MPG) since Achiuwa went down, while forward Juancho Hernangomez has averaged 6.6 PPG and 6.5 RPG in the same eight games (24.2 MPG). Neither player was a rotation mainstay during the early part of the season.

Here’s more on the Raptors:

Young and Hernangomez were in the Raptors’ starting five on Monday vs. Cleveland, even with forward Pascal Siakam back in the lineup for the first time in 10 games. As Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca writes, Gary Trent Jr. came off the bench for the first time this season and just the fourth time as a Raptor, while Scottie Barnes was a reserve for the first time in his NBA career.
Nurse didn’t say whether the new-look lineup would stick beyond Monday’s game, but explained to reporters that he wanted to maintain some continuity and not have so many players who were coming off absences (Siakam, Barnes) or struggling (Trent) in his starting five.
While both Barnes and Trent said on Monday that they were fine with the change, Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca suggests that Barnes “didn’t seem thrilled about his demotion” to the bench. When he received some push-back on his interpretation, Lewenberg posted the video clip of Barnes addressing the move, tweeting that the reigning Rookie of the Year “didn’t sound like somebody who was psyched about his (temporary) move to the bench.” Lewenberg expects Barnes to be back in the starting five in short order if he shows he’s healthy and can be more consistent.

Raptors Notes: VanVleet, Anunoby, Siakam, Hernangomez

September 26th, 2022 at 3:02pm CST by Luke Adams

Raptors guard Fred VanVleet has the ability to become an unrestricted free agent next summer if he turns down his player option for the 2023/24 season. At Monday’s Media Day, he and team president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri were noncommittal about whether a contract extension will get done in the coming weeks, but both sides expressed enthusiasm about continuing the relationship, as Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca relays (Twitter links).

“I’ll just say I love being a Raptor,” VanVleet said. “… There’s nothing I could ever complain about being on this team. You guys will know when it’s time to know, but I’m happy with where I am and I think it’s a mutual love.”

Ujiri stated that the team is in a “good place” with VanVleet after some initial extension conversations.

“Whether it’s now or later on, Fred is beloved to us,” Ujiri said. “… Hopefully we’ll figure (it out).”

Here are a few more notes out of Toronto:

O.G. Anunoby told reporters today that he was “surprised” by an offseason report claiming that he was unhappy with his role on offense, tweets Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. “I haven’t really talked about role with (head coach) Nick (Nurse),” Anunoby said. “We’re all just trying to get better and everything will fall into place.”
After making an All-Star team and earning a pair of All-NBA nods, Pascal Siakam is setting even higher expectations for himself, telling reporters today that his goal is to become a “top-five” player in the NBA. “I want to be one of the best and I’ll do whatever it takes to get there,” Siakam said, according to Lewenberg (Twitter link). “I’m ready for it. It’s time.”
Before he signed with the Raptors, Juancho Hernangomez spoke to fellow Spaniards Marc Gasol, Jose Calderon, and Sergio Scariolo about the franchise and the city of Toronto, tweets Lewenberg. The input Hernangomez received from former Raptors assistant Scariolo, in particular, played a major part in his decision.
The Raptors let their tender window for Jalen Harris lapse, which made him an unrestricted free agent and allowed the Knicks to sign him outright, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet and The Fan 590. Toronto had the ability to retain Harris, but the team already had a full camp roster and opted to let him go.

Atlantic Notes: Thybulle, Sixers, Randle, J. Hernangomez

September 25th, 2022 at 11:57am CST by Arthur Hill

Matisse Thybulle‘s rookie season ended amid the COVID-19 pandemic and last offseason was dedicated to the Olympics, so this is the first summer he’s been able to fully focus on improving his skills, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Sixers guard took advantage of the opportunity, spending time training with Damian Lillard and DeMar DeRozan, and he’s eager to show off the improvements he has made.

“It’s just a different feeling you feel when you can see how much more of yourself when you are giving to your craft,” he said, “and to the team and surrendering to the work and living to whatever the outcome can be.”

Thybulle was a lightning rod for criticism last year because of his limitations on offense and his refusal to get vaccinated, which left him unable to participate in playoff games in Toronto during the team’s first-round series. He was reportedly included in trade offers this summer as the Sixers tried to acquire Eric Gordon from the Rockets, but he’s come to accept that as part of life in the NBA.

“At this point, I would always want to stay in Philly,” he said. “And if it’s up to me, that’s always going to be my choice. But considering that I’ve realized the reality of how far out of my control it is, if I do get traded or something does end up happening, I can look at myself in the mirror at the end of the day.”

There’s more from the Atlantic Division:

Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer examines questions for 17 Sixers players ahead of training camp, including whether MVP runner-up Joel Embiid will accept more “load management” games, whether James Harden has regained his explosiveness after an offseason to rest his hamstring, and the impact of newcomers P.J. Tucker and De’Anthony Melton.
The Knicks‘ signing of Jalen Brunson means Julius Randle will have to adjust to an off-the-ball role, notes Zach Braziller of The New York Post. Randle has been one of the team’s primary playmakers over the past three seasons, but Braziller expects him to see fewer isolation plays and more post-ups and spot-up shots.
Juancho Hernangomez is the most likely Raptors player to make a breakthrough during the preseason, according to Eric Koreen of The Athletic. Hernangomez is coming off a strong performance at EuroBasket and provides size for a team that doesn’t have a lot of it. Koreen points to Malachi Flynn, Justin Champagnie, Dalano Banton and D.J. Wilson as other candidates.

And-Ones: Wembanyama, High School Prospects, EuroBasket, More

September 20th, 2022 at 2:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

Victor Wembanyama is projected to be the top pick in the 2023 draft, but he’s more concerned about landing with the right team than being taken No. 1 overall, writes Antonis Stroggylakis of Eurohoops. Wembanyama, who plays for Metropolitans 92 in France, discussed his prospects during Media Day for his team’s new season, which starts this weekend.

“Sports-wise, the most interesting thing is always to find an organization that will take care of the project and the player,” Wembanyama said, as reported by the French outlet BasketSession. “So it’s better to be second, third, or 20th in the Draft if you have a better career afterward. But I don’t know if it’s pride, I have a part in me that says that there must be no one (drafted) in front of me.”

The 18-year-old center stands 7’4″, but he only weighs a little over 200 pounds, so durability is one of the few questions surrounding him as he prepares for his NBA career. Scouts are nearly unanimous in raving about his talent, and he has been a star in international competitions for the past three years.

“What matters to me this season is above all to consolidate a place as a possible No. 1 pick in the draft,” Wembanyama added. “That’s my goal, rather than trying to put on 15 kilos and take risks. I want to strengthen myself, but above all to move towards a favorable situation for the NBA.”

With the possibility looming that high school players will be allowed to go straight to the NBA in a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, Jacob Polacheck of ZagsBlog talks to some of the top prospects in the Class of 2024 about how that might affect their decisions. “I think it’s an amazing opportunity for players who have the ability to go out of high school and follow their dream of playing in the NBA,” said Ian Jackson of Cardinal Hayes in New York, who is considered one of the top prospects in the class. “I think it’s great and the best part is that it gives high school athletes more choices.” It’s possible that the one-and-done rule could remain in place beyond 2024 even if the NBA and NBPA aim to eventually get rid of it, as Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Monday.
Willy Hernangomez and Juancho Hernangomez stood out while leading Spain to the EuroBasket championship, Michael Scotto said in a HoopsHype podcast. Scotto also believes Finland’s Lauri Markkanen showed that he’s ready for a breakout season with the Jazz and that Italy’s Simone Fontecchio could be productive in Utah as well.
Raptors representative Larry Tanenbaum was unanimously re-elected as chairman of the NBA Board of Governors, the league announced this morning (Twitter link).