Juan Núñez, from selectivity to the fight for the ACB with Real Madrid

• First game There is no misfortune that can stop Real Madrid

• Randolph Complete rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament

Last Thursday, five days after his 18th birthday, a boy faced what he had to do: selectivity exams.

So far, nothing extraordinary.

But at the exit of Somosaguas, his father, Miguel, was waiting impatiently in a car.

Because

, now the extraordinary, had to appear in less than five hours at the Buesa Arena, the third match of the Endesa League semifinals.

He complies with his studies-he awaits the note from the EBAU without too many worries-and he complies on the field with an unusual precocity, now in the very final against Barcelona, ​​with the same imperturbable face.

While the plague of casualties continues at Real Madrid, the youth squad Núñez makes his way based on talent.

At the Palau he had to appear on the scene in the second quarter and managed to keep up the momentum.

Just like in the third act.

With him on court, his team beat Barça by 13 points (the best there).

He did not tremble when they squeezed him in the front line, when guys like

were placed in front of him .

«Surely today he has learned much more than in some training sessions.

He works very well on a daily basis.

Today I don't know how much he has played but he has given us quality minutes »,

assessed Juan, who also showed an excellent defensive attitude.

Everything in Juan's life has been a race.

As a child he combined basketball and handball in Villaviciosa de Odón.

He imitated his older brothers, Carmen and Miguel, who stood out and even reached the lower categories of the national team.

But also to his parents, Miguel and Isabel, who always played basketball, he spent many years at Canoe.

Those one-handed passes have a lot to do with his performance between goals, with reading spaces.

At the age of 11, he was recruited by Alcorcón and a season later, in 2015, he was already in the white quarry.

The baskets had been imposed.

A race was also his debut, because last year - again the injuries in Madrid - he had to go to the semifinals of the ACB as a matter of urgency, from the final of the junior Euroleague that he was playing in Valencia (Madrid won, he could not be).

In October he played his first minutes in Europe, in Kazan.

He has been the only junior to be in the dynamics of the first team all season.

He especially admires

and has a great relationship with

-there was a moment at the Palau on Tuesday when he even tried to calm down their protests to the referees-,

.

«He knows that he has to enjoy the journey and both his family and the club take care so that he does not come up.

He is clear about it », they tell from the environment of a boy who maintains his life and his friends in Villaviciosa, although he has to spend a few nights in the Madrid residence in Valdebebas.

That he has little time for video games and that he is very good at studies, especially math.

He will opt for Business Administration or Sports Management, because for an Engineering he would not have enough time with his professional career.

"It was shocking"

Everything goes fast in Juan because the spotlight falls on who is special, who sees basketball before anyone else.

That plus of imagination and risk that he prints in his game reminds

.

Hurry, because as soon as the ACB final is over - today, the second game at the Palau (9:00 p.m., Let's go) - he will meet with the U20 team to play the European Championship in Montenegro, as it is one of the great projects of future of the FEB.

"He has an inappropriate maturity for his age. Since he was little he has always been playing in categories higher than his own, like now,"

, the coach, amazed at the "maturity" shown in the Palau, hostile territory.

"His ability to read the game and generate advantages is extraordinary. Obviously, he has room for improvement. But it is a fantastic project. Well, not so much a project anymore," continues Prado, who remembers the first time he saw Núñez, in a children's Spanish championship.

"Oysters, it was impressive. His direct, fresh, dynamic, visual game. The aggressiveness towards the hoop", remembers the also sports director of Lleida.

So Juan won't even have time to take the theory test for his driving license (his parents continue to drive him to and from Valdebebas).

He will have to wait... Because who knows if Sergio

is not thinking of taking him as a guest to the absolute one in the face of the precariousness precisely in the position of director.

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• Villaviciosa de Odon

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• Alcorcon