By Stefan Djordjevic/ info@eurohoops.net
It all started on November 23, 1997, and today (17/8/2018), 21 years and 35 trophies later, Juan Carlos Navarro decided to take a well-earned rest.
He influenced the whole basketball world in the best way possible and him retiring is truly the end of an era. And basketball knows it. Players, clubs, leagues and fans around the world have been expressing their gratitude to Navarro as soon as the news came out.
Perhaps the greatest legacy a player can leave is the influence on young players, and for them to follow in those footsteps. Luka Doncic, the one who has the potential to create an even bigger legacy, is no exception either:
Dirk Nowitzki also stepped in to remind the world of everything the ‘big time shot maker’ accomplished:
Of course, everybody who had the pleasure of playing with, against, or just meeting Navarro, took their turn, on the head with Navarro’s fellow Spaniards Rudy Fernandez, Jose Calderon and Felipe Reyes:
Coaches didn’t miss their opportunity either:
And many, many more, teammates and opponents…
One of his biggest rivals, fighting neck to neck for almost twenty years, Nikos Zizis had some words to share too: