Rudy Fernandez may head to Real Madrid; Charged up for the London Olympics - NBA Update
Rudy Fernandez is yet to make up his mind on whether to stay in NBA. He is currently in Spain rehabilitating his back after the surgery.
The 27-year-old shooting guard will be a restricted free agent this summer and has made it clear that he will only return if his present team, the Denver Nuggets, make him a plum offer.
"We'll see if the Nuggets make a good offer to me or not,” Fernandez recently said in an interview with Spanish site TuBasket.
If Rudy returns to Spain, it will be his third such stint. He made his name playing for ACB side DKV Joventut for six seasons before declaring for the NBA draft in 2007. He was drafted by Phoenix Suns, but his
draft rights were traded off to Portland Trail Blazers for cash.
After the 2008 Olympics, he played his 1st NBA regular season and quickly established himself as the essential part of the squad. That was the reason the franchise exercised the third year of the contract
option which extended his tenure to 2010-11.
Fernandez however slowly started to fade away and requested the Trail Blazers to release him so that he may play for Real. He was instead traded to Dallas Mavericks but he never played a single game for them,
before being relocated to Nuggets.
During the NBA lockout when many NBA players opted to play for foreign teams in the extended off season, Fernandez signed a €2.7 million contract with Real. The contract was the largest in Spanish league history,
and provided him with the option of returning to Madrid when his NBA contract expires.
That contract can now become his ticket to a good contract in NBA.
The guard also expressed his desire to represent Spanish National basketball team at the 2012 London Olympics,
“I would love to get a medal for Spain,” Rudy said. “It would be a dream comes true from a personal and a professional standpoint.”
Rudy has been a part of Spanish squad for the previous 6 years. He was part of the team that won the 2006 FIBA World Championship title and also played a lead role in 2008 Olympics, when a very strong USA side
was given a run for their money in the finals.
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