Point guard Juan Núñez, formerly at Real Madrid and currently at Ratiopharm Ulm, will replace Ricky Rubiowho announced his retirement from the Spanish team to take care of his mental health, which is why he is already working as part of the group of 16 players concentrated in Fuengirola (Málaga) to play the preparatory triangle for the Next weekend against Slovenia and the United States, which will take place at Martín Carpena.
After spending the last few days in Madrid, beating Venezuela (87-57) in the first game of the pre-World Cup friendly tour at the WiZink Center, Spain is already training at the Higuerón Training Center facilities in the municipality of Fuengirola in Málagawhere Scariolo called up the 16 players on the preliminary list this Monday.
Among them is 19-year-old point guard Juan Núñez, who has already played the game against Venezuela and is part of the expedition of absolute national players before the loss of Ricky Rubio, who announced through a statement that he would have to retire to look after his mental health, a sensitive loss that joins the already well-known injury-bound Lorenzo Brown.
Bundesliga champion
That season, Juan Núñez won the German Bundesliga with Ratiopharm Ulm, where he averaged 8.1 points and 4.2 assists3.3 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 19:6 minutes on average.
Based on his numbers and performance, Scariolo is counting on him as a possible pick as 12 players are eventually called up for the World Cup in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines, which takes place from August 25th to September 10th.
The 16 players concentrated in Malaga are Rudy Fernández, Victor Claver, Sergio Llull, Willy Hernangómez, Juancho Hernangómez, Álex Abrines, Sebas Sáiz, Jaime Fernández, Darío Brizuela, Joel Parra, Alberto Díaz, Usman Garuba, Alberto Abalde, Juan Núñez and Santi Aldama.
They will all take part in the Federation 100th Anniversary Triangle Friendlies next weekend at the Martín Carpena Pavilion in Málaga, Unicaja’s usual home, where a Spain-Slovenia match will be played on Friday, Slovenia-USA on Saturday and Spain-USA on Sunday, all at 21:30.
