Celtics

4 things to know about Juancho Hernangomez, who the Celtics reportedly traded for

Hernangomez joins the Celtics after putting up a career-high in points, but recently injured his shoulder.

By Conor Roche

September 3, 2021

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Forward Juancho Hernangomez is the latest player the Celtics have acquired via trade this offseason.

Boston reportedly agreed to a deal with Memphis to get the forward from the Grizzlies for Kris Dunn and Carsen Edwards on Friday. Hernangomez is the sixth different player (including Dunn) to be acquired by the Celtics in a trade so far this offseason.

Here are four things to know about Hernangomez.

He’s coming off his best season from a volume stat standpoint.

Hernangomez comes to Boston after putting up some of the best numbers in his career.

With the Timberwolves last season, Hernangomez scored a career-high 7.2 points in 17.3 minutes per game. The 25-year-old forward came off the bench for all but six of the 52 games he played in, adding 3.9 rebounds per game, the second-best of his career.

Hernangomez bumping his stats in 2020-21 isn’t a surprise if you look at what happened at the end of the 2019-20 season. After getting traded from the Nuggets to the Timberwolves at the trade deadline that year, Hernangomez averaged 12.9 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, starting all 14 games he played in.

Something that could be a bit of a concern though is the dip in 3-point shooting Hernangomez saw last season. In that 14-game stretch in 2020, Hernangomez shot 42% from 3-point territory but saw a near 10-point decrease in made 3s this past season, making just 32.7% of his 3-pointers.

Over his five-year career, Hernangomez is a 35.1% 3-point shooter, which is right around league average. If Hernangomez can make his 3-pointers at an average clip, you’d figure that it could help the Celtics to have another forward who can stretch the floor in any way as centers Robert Williams and Enes Kanter don’t have much range as jump shooters.

He recently suffered a shoulder injury, leading to a fallout with the Timberwolves.

While playing for his native Spain in the leadup to the Olympics, Hernangomez suffered a grade 4/5 dislocation in his left shoulder, appearing to keep him out of the Olympic Games.

However, Spain added Hernangomez to its final roster for the Olympics later in July. Hernangomez appeared to be all set to play in the Olympics until July 24, the day after the Olympic Games began, when he was removed from the roster. The decision for Hernangomez not to play came from Wolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas, the Spanish Basketball Federation alleged.

Spanish officials said that their doctors and Timberwolves doctors approved Hernangomez for play in the Olympics, but Rosas said the Timberwolves doctors never approved of it.

The Timberwolves’ decision to not allow Hernangomez to play in the Olympics made the forward “deeply disappointed,” The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski reported.

Hernangomez’s time in Minnesota ultimately ended in August, with the team trading him to Memphis on Aug. 25.

It’s unclear how long Hernangomez will be out for, but players with a similar injury have missed several months in the past, according to Blue Wire Pods Dane Moore.

He’s shined in international play in the past.

Spain really could have used Hernangomez in the Tokyo Olympics.

Hernangomez has played for his country on the international stage dating back to his teenage years. He helped earn Spain a bronze medal at the European U-18 Championship in 2013. He followed that up with silver medal finishes with the U-20 team in the 2014 and 2015 European Championship.

Hernangomez finally made his national team debut in 2017, playing in the EuroBasket 2017 tournament. He averaged 8.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game in that tournament, helping Spain earn a bronze medal.

The progression continued for Hernangomez in 2019. Hernangomez played a key role for Spain in the 2019 FIBA World Cup, averaging 10.5 points and 5.4 rebounds per game en route to winning the gold medal. In the gold medal game against Argentina, Hernangomez scored 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, adding five rebounds in a 95-75 win.

Without Hernangomez, Spain was knocked out in the quarterfinal of the 2020 Olympics, losing to the United States.

His brother is also an NBA player.

Juan isn’t the only Hernangomez in the NBA. His older brother, Willy, is in the league, too.

Willy Hernangomez was drafted by the 76ers in the second round of the 2015 NBA draft, a year prior to Juan getting drafted. Willy Hernangomez never played for the 76ers, though. After spending another year in Spain, Hernangomez was traded to the Knicks, where he played the first two years of his career.

The Hornets traded for Hernangomez during the 2017-18 season. After two-plus seasons in Charlotte, Hernangomez signed a three-year deal with the Pelicans prior to the 2020-21 season.

Willy Hernangomez, a 6-foot-11 center, has averaged 7.1 points and 5.7 rebounds per game over his five-year career.