Juancho Hernangómez: "My season, my life, my career... everything has been a roller coaster"

• LUCAS SAEZ-BRAVO

  @LucasSaezBravo

  Madrid

Updated Thursday, June 2, 2022-09:53

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• Tatum In the name of Kobe

"Did you like it?" Receives

, legs up in a central Madrid hotel, intrigued as a first-timer.

Because the reason for the meeting is not the end of his sixth season in the NBA, but the premiere on Netflix on June 8 (tomorrow in theaters) of 'Claw', the film in which he stars alongside

.

In passing, the forward from Madrid reflects on his career, his summer with the national team and his future in the air.

"Life is a fucking attraction and I love it that way," he says.

How did you end up making a movie? Totally unexpected.

I was still playing in Denver and my agents told me they were doing a worldwide casting call, looking for a player-actor.

We had won the World Cup, but my contract in the NBA was at stake.

And my dream had never been to be an actor nor did I see myself making a movie.

I told them no.

Later, already in Minnesota, the covid arrived.

They asked me again.

He was holed up with my sister and brother in their house in Charlotte (

was then playing for the Hornets).

And a little out of boredom, because my sister insisted, we made a video: extremely poor, shitty.

I don't know what they saw.

I went through tests and castings and in the end, after a couple of meetings with the director (

) and with Adam, they really liked me.

And they caught me. And what do you feel now when you see yourself on the screen? Poof.

I do not feel anything.

Very proud to see that my people love it, that they get excited, because they know how hard it has been.

No one can imagine how hard it is to make a movie and no one can feel what I have felt.

Two summers, confinements, Pcr`s, efforts, many hours on set... I was exhausted from training and had to go.

In two hours, two years of work, it's brutal.

What was the hardest thing? The scene in Mallorca, when they found me.

We spent five or six days recording.

He had to play in Timberlands (boots).

Defend, run, again and again.

His feet were busted, he couldn't jump or run, they weighed two kilos each.

My whole body ached and the directors didn't understand that.

In the end they did and we changed the script and scenes.

If not, it was inhuman. Shall we see him until he cries? It was quite emotional.

As it is a world that I do not control and I have no idea of ​​being an actor, I lived it as a new experience every day.

I have worked hard to be an actor, a whole summer with Noelle Gentile, my teacher.

Thanks to her I have made the film, she has guided me every scene.

She has prepared me and all of that has helped me in basketball, to see things in a different way, because we have used meditation. What lesson does 'Garra' teach?

?It is a nod to life, not just basketball.

The lesson is that life goes on, it doesn't stop for anyone.

That is why the hard moments are not so hard and the good ones are ephemeral.

We won the World Cup and it is a stage that is closing.

Later, I experienced the shoulder injury and bad things in my life, very hard moments, but I don't regret anything, I wouldn't change anything.

Everything has helped me to be who I am.

I love that life is like that, a fucking attraction, that goes up, that goes down.

If it were all good, simple and easy, we wouldn't enjoy it so much.

I would not change anything.

Everything has helped me to be who I am.

I love that life is like that, a fucking attraction, that goes up, that goes down.

If it were all good, simple and easy, we wouldn't enjoy it so much.

I would not change anything.

Everything has helped me to be who I am.

I love that life is like that, a fucking attraction, that goes up, that goes down.

If it were all good, simple and easy, we wouldn't enjoy it so much.

Juancho and Adam Sandler.Netflix

"If you're dead, no one can kill you," they tell Bo Cruz, his character.

Do you find any parallels with his career? My season, my life, my career... it's all been a roller coaster.

This year, on a mental level, I have been very calm.

Doing my job, being a great professional.

In each team [three in one season] I have given the same, although I have had more or fewer opportunities.

I have lived in Boston, I have known the city, a winning team.

I have been able to train with

, who are great players.

I didn't play much, but I don't blame anyone for anything.

A coach may or may not like it, or fit into a game system.

Then I ended up playing for

, two weeks with the best coach in the world.

And then some playoffs in Utah, competing for the first time in them.

I finished very well, I'm happy, I've adapted very well to the Jazz's game, they loved me a lot and I've connected with the city and the players. His future will be decided on June 30, after so many ups and downs, now what? Money is no longer important.

Once you can live in peace, your children, your children's children... We have so much money that it is not a priority.

I can't tell you what's going to happen.

My goal is to continue in the NBA, compete with the best.

Against

... It's the motivation that gets me up every day.

There is no other.

Juancho and Anthony Edwards, in a scene from Garra.Netflix

Do you feel that you have been pigeonholed in your game? I continue to train every summer to be the most complete player I can be.

Then, it depends on the game system of the team, the role... Because the NBA is a role game.

There are a couple of stars and specialist players.

Thanks to them the team works.

What if I have to be a specialist and adapt the equipment?

I can be.

If I have to be more versatile and do more things?

I can be too.

I don't want to pigeonhole myself in my head.

I train to polish my skills and strengthen my skills. Would I go back to Europe? I'm not ruling anything out, because we don't know the future.

It is true that I told my agent that until June 30 I did not want to talk to anyone.

Many rumors came out.

All the teams in Europe wanted me, every day one.

It was flippant.

I have no preference, the day I have to return,

I will choose the best situation.

I don't like the colors of one team or another anymore.

I don't owe anyone anything, I don't feel under that pressure.

I live very calmly. After the personal fiasco of the Games, do you want to be selected? Yes.

It is always special.

For me and my family, it is a pride.

We don't play for nothing, just for our own pride and love of basketball.

For competing with your country.

Every time we put on the shirt it is a feeling that cannot be compared to any other.

We have been very happy with the national team, we have won a World Cup, they have taught us so much... I am looking forward to the new project, the new generation, to be clear that we are neither

Is there a desire to select? Yes.

It is always special.

For me and my family, it is a pride.

We don't play for nothing, just for our own pride and love of basketball.

For competing with your country.

Every time we put on the shirt it is a feeling that cannot be compared to any other.

We have been very happy with the national team, we have won a World Cup, they have taught us so much... I am looking forward to the new project, the new generation, to be clear that we are neither

Is there a desire to select? Yes.

It is always special.

For me and my family, it is a pride.

We don't play for nothing, just for our own pride and love of basketball.

For competing with your country.

Every time we put on the shirt it is a feeling that cannot be compared to any other.

We have been very happy with the national team, we have won a World Cup, they have taught us so much... I am looking forward to the new project, the new generation, to be clear that we are neither

.

Sorry, we don't have that talent.

But we have to forge our own path, our style of play.

And that's a motivating thing.

It is clear that we are not going to win even half of what they have won.

But it also motivates us. Do you feel like the leader of the new era? I don't like to use the word leader.

You don't have to put it on yourself.

You have to show it every day, in every training session, every time you speak, every time there is a bad situation, every defeat.

It is very difficult to be a leader, you have to earn it.

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