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Madrid. Puerto Rican goalkeeper José Juan “JJ” Barea will play this season for Movistar Estudiantes, from the Spanish Basketball League.
The students, a historic club in Madrid that currently ranks 16th in the league with 19 teams from Spain, announced on Saturday the hiring of Barea, 36, an NBA institution, until the end of this season and especially in the Dallas Mavericks where he was essential in achieving the only ring of champions in the franchise in 2011.
In the 14 consecutive seasons in the NBA (between 2006 and 2020), 11 were in two stages with the Texas franchise, with which he signed a contract at the beginning of this season that was terminated in December.
In his other three seasons in the NBA, he defended the Minnesota Timberwolves (2011-2014), accumulating a total of 831 games in the regular season and 50 in the playoffs.
Barea is also one of the stars of the Puerto Rican team, with which she won gold medals at the 2011 Pan American Games, the Central American and Caribbean Games in 2006 and 2010; and silver from the 2007 Pan American Games.
The player will arrive in Madrid this week to join Movistar Estudiantes. In this way, he will fulfill a small personal goal, which was already emphasized in the Spanish press a decade ago: to play in the country of his ancestors, originally from Ribota de Sajambre (León), says Movistar Estudiantes.