Amadeu García Barcelona
Barcelona
Updated Wednesday, February 7, 2024-19:34
Laura Gil Injuries and insults: "I had to turn off all cell phones and social networks"
Megan Gustafson
(Madison, Wisconsin, 1996) wanted with all her soul to "be part of something bigger." This was what she herself stated last October, when she was called up for the first time by the Spanish team, La Familia. In the end, the fact that she was recovering from an injury prevented her from having her first minutes with a group characterized by her unbreakable unity.
The great role they signed in the European past attests to this. Only Belgium, in the final, could beat them. Now, a presence at the Paris Games is in contention. And that is something that gives the center, the best scorer in the last Euroleague and now a player for the
Las Vegas Aces
, in the WNBA, extra motivation.
She will be the third player who will defend the colors of Spain after receiving nationality by nature card, after
Sancho Lyttle
, the pioneer, and
Astou Ndour
, and at the same time, also the first born in the United States, achieved it before her. Comparisons of her with
Lorenzo Brown
, a determining figure for gold in the 2022 European Championship, are inevitable. In this case, the current
Maccabi
point guard was the sixth American to defend the red shirt, after
Clifford Luyk
,
Wayne Brabender
,
Mike Smith
,
Johnny Rogers
and
Chuck Kornegay
.
Dallas, Washington, Phoenix...
At 1.91 meters tall, the center will be the second tallest player on the team, only surpassed by two centimeters by the always combative
Laura Gil
. Its quality, of course, is beyond doubt. Not in vain, last year she stood out as the best scorer in the Euroleague, with an average of 22.6 points, in the ranks of an
Olympiacos
capable of winning only one game of the 14 that she played in the regular phase.
With the
Iowa Hawkeyes
, her team during her university years, she achieved several awards that distinguished her as the best of 2019, such as the
Naismith Award
, awarded by the Associated Press agency, or the Lisa Leslie Award, among others. The team even decided to retire her number 10 when she made the jump to the WNBA, initially with the
Dallas Wings
. From there, she would move on to the
Washington Mystics
and then to the
Phoenix Mercury
, her last team before proving herself in Europe with
Olympiacos
and finally returning to her country with
the Las Vegas Aces
.
Nationalization
Her agent, in this case, was the one who was in charge of convincing her to apply for Spanish nationality. "When I had the opportunity to join the Spanish team, I felt very happy. I didn't know him very well, but he told me such good things that they made me feel more than prepared to come,"
Gustafson
herself confessed after entering the team for the first time. list of the coach,
Miguel Méndez
.
Then, at the end of last year, that call could not translate into minutes on the court. This Thursday, however, with Japan as the first touchstone in search of qualification for the Paris Games, everything suggests that things will be very different. Also, of course, to face Canada and Hungary on Friday and Sunday, respectively.