Rudy Fernandez signs a four year deal with Spanish Club Real Madrid – NBA Rumour Mill
With the NBA locked out, teams are slowly but gradually losing out on players to the international market. Although no real big names have left as of yet, except Deron Williams of the New Jersey Nets, many rotation players are
seeking employment opportunities in the European and Asian leagues.
Another such player is the Dallas Mavericks guard Rudy Fernandez, who was just recently traded from the Portland Trail Blazers on draft night. It is reported that Fernandez has decided his future lies in Spain. He is signing a
four year deal with the Spanish club Real Madrid.
However, Rudy still has one year left in his contract and given the lockout ends, he will have to get back to Dallas as per the FIBA ruling. Dallas will have the option to allow Rudy to go, but the fact that they just got him implies
that they need his services. Besides, most teams do not allow their rotation players to leave before the contracts expire.
Due to the fact that the nature of the deal is long term, it seems highly likely that Fernandez wants to pursue the rest of his career in Spain. However, it is not yet clear whether he will spend another year at Dallas, or will
he be allowed to leave before the said time period.
Fernandez created quite a stir when he started his career in the NBA and was considered an exciting prospect. In his rookie year, he averaged 10.4 points per game, but could not build on his start and ended up averaging only 8.6
points with the Trailblazers last season.
Rudy was being considered a value addition to the ageing Mavericks side, as he could act as back up for J.J Barea and to-be point guard Roddy Beaubois.
Rudy Fernandez is not the only player to engage in a long term deal outside the NBA. The Celtics centre Nenad Krstic was one of the first to sign a long term deal. He signed a 2 year contract with CSKA Moscow in Russia. Another
player, the Nets Guard Sasha Vujacic followed the path of Deron Williams and Went to Turkey. He signed for Efes Pilsen.
However, Krstic and Vujacic were free agents when they signed their deals. This means that they are under no restriction from either the NBA or their former teams. Fernandez has a rather complicated situation at hand and it might
very well be the case that his four year deal might not go through.
Overall, there has been speculation that Rudy’s decision to go back to his home country has been greatly influenced by a better salary package and other potential benefits associated with the deal, because otherwise it makes no
sense leaving a team which just won the NBA Championship.
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