By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
After 20 years in Barcelona and one season in the NBA with Memphis, Juan Carlos Navaro decided to call it a day. It was already known that he was negotiating with the club the terms of his retirement and finally on the 17th of August it was officially announced.
According to the press release: “After 1,139 official appearances, 20 seasons and 35 titles, Juan Carlos Navarro will no longer be forming part of the basketball first team. The Barça Lassa captain and the club have decided that now that he is 38, the time has come to hang up his boots and join the club’s technical staff. The most successful player in the history of the team will thereby be handing over the number 11 jersey, which is set to be withdrawn and hung from the roof of the Palau Blaugrana.
Collector of trophies
The finest era of Barça basketball during the last two decades have coincided with the presence of Juan Carlos Navarro, who is retiring after winning an astonishing 35 major honours: 8 ACB Leagues (1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014), 7 Copas del Rey (2001, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2018), 5 ACB Super Cups (2004, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2015), 2 Euroleagues (2003 & 2010), 1 Korac Cup (1999) and 12 Catalan Leagues (2000, 2001, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017).
Juan Carlos Navarro has played a key role in all of these victories, having collected nine MVP awards for competitions or finals: Liga ACB (2006), Liga ACB Final (2009, 2011, 2014), ACB Super Cup (2009, 2010, 2011), Euroleague (2009) and Euroleague Final (2010).
1,139 games and 13,609 points
In his time at Barça Lassa, Juan Carlos Navarro has played a total of 1,139 competitive matches: 689 in the Liga ACB, 341 in the Euroleague, 44 in the Copa del Rey, 25 in the European Cup, 23 in the Catalan League, 14 in the ACB Super Cup and 3 in the Korac Cup.
One of the greatest assets displayed by ‘La Bomba’ over the years has been his ability to rise to the occasion. He’s amassed 13,609 points as a blaugrana: 8.318 in the Liga ACB, 4,152 in the Euroleague, 466 in the Copa del Rey, 304 in the Catalan League, 189 in the ACB Super Cup, 169 in the European Cup and 11 in the Korac Cup.
Spain and NBA
Navarro also spearheaded the finest epoch in the history of the Spanish national team, along with such close friends as Pau and Marc Gasol, winning two European Championships (2009, 2011) and one World Championship (2006), as well as two silvers (2008, 2012) and one bronze (2016) at the Olympics. He featured in five different editions of the games, in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016.
Navarro also got the chance to play in the NBA. That was in the 2007/08 season with the Memphis Grizzlies, where he played 82 regular season games, averaging 10.9 points a game, but he decided to return to Barcelona after one year and has continued to lead the team until the present day“.