Juan Carlos Navarro Feijoo, commonly known as eitherJuan Carlos Navarro orJ. C. Navarro (born June 13, 1980), is a Spanish former professionalbasketball player and current basketball executive. He is the currentgeneral manager of the SpanishEuroLeague clubFC Barcelona Bàsquet. During his playing career, at a height of 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) tall,[1][2][3] he played at theshooting guard position. During his playing days, Navarro was nicknamed "La Bomba" (English: "The Bomb"), which is also theSpanish name for his signature basketball move, thetear drop, which was the shot Navarro was a specialist in and became well-known for.
Navarro is widely regarded as one of the best European basketball players of all time. Navarro was theEurobasket News All-Europe Player of the Year in 2009, 2010, and 2011. He was also namedMr. Europa in 2010. On March 14, 2014, Navarro was inducted into the Euroleague's Hall of Fame, after he was named aEuroLeague Legend.[4] In 2018, he was named to the 101 Greats of European Basketball selection. Along with the Greek playerVassilis Spanoulis, Navarro was one of just two players, that were still active players at the time, that were specially selected for the honor. All of the other players that were chosen for the honor, had already retired from actively playing.
During his proclub career, Navarro was a two-timeEuroLeague champion, in2003 and2010. He was also named theEuroLeague MVP in2009, theEuroLeague Final Four MVP in 2010, and he was also selected as a member of theEuroLeague 2000–2010 All-Decade Team and theEuroLeague 2010–2020 All-Decade Team. As thecaptain of the seniornational team of Spain, Navarro notably won, among other medals, aFIBA World Cup gold medal in2006, twoFIBA Summer Olympics silver medals in2008 and2012, as well as twoFIBA EuroBasket gold medals in2009 and2011. He also earned twoAll-EuroBasket Team selections (2005, 2011), and wasthe competition's MVP in 2011.
Juan Carlos Navarro Feijoo was born inSant Feliu de Llobregat,Barcelona, Spain. Navarro began playingyouth system club basketball, with a local club in Sant Feliu de Llobregat, called Club Bàsquet Santfeliuenc, at the age of 8. At the age of 12, he moved to the youth clubs of FC Barcelona.
Navarro started playing with the senior men's club ofFC Barcelona at the age of 17, making hisSpanish ACB League debut on November 23, 1997. That year he was selected to attend theNike Hoop Summit, but he opted stayed in Europe, and play for the Barcelona pro team. Due to his club obligations, he was also not on the Spanish junior national team that won theAlbert Schweitzer Tournament, inMannheim, in 1998.
With the acquisitions ofDejan Bodiroga andGregor Fučka in 2003, FC Barcelona won all the competitions they played in that year. It was the first time the club won theEuroLeague championship. By winning theSpanish ACB League, theSpanish King's Cup, and the2002–03 EuroLeague all in the same year, Barcelona won the covetedTriple Crown championship that year.
With Barcelona, Navarro played onLiga ACB (Spanish League) championship teams eight times: 1999, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2014; theSpanish King's Cup winners seven times: 2001, 2003, 2007, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2018; theSpanish Supercup winners five times: 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2015; theFIBA Korać Cup champions once: 1999; and theEuroLeague champions twice:2003 and2010. Navarro helped Barcelona reach theEuroLeague Final Four seven times:2000,2003,2006,2009,2010,2012, and2014. Navarro was selected to theAll-EuroLeague Team seven times: 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. In 2006, Juan Carlos Navarro earned theregular season Most Valuable Player award of the Spanish Liga ACB. He was named theSpanish Liga ACB Finals Most Valuable Player in 2009 and 2011. He was named theEuroLeague MVP in 2009, and theEuroLeague Final Four MVP in 2010.
As a member ofFC Barcelona, Navarro played with players likeSasha Đjorđjević,Artūras Karnišovas,Rony Seikaly,Pau Gasol, andŠarūnas Jasikevičius, which helped make him a better player, and he became one of the most promising young European players, early on in his career with Barcelona. Several NBAmock drafts started to set him as a projectedNBA draft pick.[citation needed]
In the 2001–02 season, Navarro was plagued by injuries, which dropped hisNBA draft stock. Eventually, theWashington Wizards drafted Navarro in the second round (with the 40th pick overall) of the2002 NBA draft. Navarro subsequently declined the Wizards contract offer, as he preferred to stay withFC Barcelona.
On August 3, 2007, the Washington Wizards traded Navarro's draft rights, to theMemphis Grizzlies, in exchange for a future first-round draft pick. Navarro would later be reunited with his former FC Barcelona andSpain national teammatePau Gasol, on the Grizzlies.[5] After securing his €10 million contract buyout with FC Barcelona, Navarro signed a one-year contract with theMemphis Grizzlies of theNBA, and he played with them during the2007–08 season.
In his rookie NBA season, Navarro was one of the Grizzlies' team leaders in three-point shooting (.361). He was also named to the 2007–08NBA All-Rookie Second Team, after averaging 10.9 points per game. On June 18, 2008, Navarro decided to leave the NBA and return to Spain. He signed a four-year deal worth€12 millionnet income (with an optional fifth year that would bring the total contract to €15 million net income) with Barcelona, his former team. A qualifying contract offer, that had been previously tendered to Navarro by theMemphis Grizzlies, was eventually rescinded by the team on September 10, 2009. That allowed the Grizzlies the cap space to then signAllen Iverson.[6][7]
Navarro's final NBA game was played on April 16, 2008, in a 111–120 loss to theDenver Nuggets where he recorded 16 points, 7 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals.
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After spending the2007–08 season in theNBA, with theMemphis Grizzlies, Navarro returned toFC Barcelona in the summer of 2008, on a 4-year€12 millionnet income contract. The contract included a €10 million buyout amount. The contract also included an optional fifth year, which brought the total contract to €15 million net income. In 2012, Barcelona picked up the fifth optional year of his contract (€3 million net income), and extended him for another two additional years, at a salary of €2.6 million per season after that, bringing the total to €8.2 million net income over three years.[8]
Over the 2014–15 season, Navarro experienced several injury problems with his right leg. In late December 2014, it was announced that he would miss up to six weeks of action, due to a torn muscle in his right thigh.[9] On June 29, 2015, it was announced by Barcelona that Navarro would miss three months of game action, due toplantar fasciitis on his right foot.[10] Those injuries negatively impacted his performances over the season, in which he had averages of 10.5 points and 3.1 assists per game, on 37% shooting from the field overall, in 17EuroLeague 2014–15 season games.
On August 17, 2018, Navarro retired from competing in active sports competition,[11][12][13] and he joined the FC Barcelona club's head office structure. That fulfilled what had been previously established in the 10-year contract that he signed with the club in September 2017 - that he would join the club's front office, after he retired from playing basketball with the team.[14][15]
At the time of his retirement from playing professional basketball, Navarro was theEuroLeague's all-time career leader in totalPerformance Index Rating (PIR) (that record was eventually broken byVassilis Spanoulis),[16] and also the league's career leader in total points scored (4,152 points)[1] in the modernEuroLeague Basketball era of the competition, since the year2000 (that record was also eventually broken bySpanoulis).[16] Navarro also retired as the all-time career leader in totalpoints scored (4,321 points), in the entire history of the EuroLeague (since1958), including when the competition was run byFIBA Europe, as he also scored 169 total points in theFIBA EuroLeague 1999–00 season.[17] In March 2019, Navarro's number 11 jersey wasretired by the club.[16][18][19]
In the summer of 1998, Navarro was a member of theSpanish under-18 junior national team that won the gold medal at the1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. He was also one of "The Golden Generation" boys of Spain (along withFelipe Reyes and futureNBA playersPau Gasol andRaúl López) that defeated the United States' junior national team at the1999 FIBA Under-19 World Cup.
Navarro played with the seniorSpanish national team at the2000 Sydney Summer Olympics. He also played at the2001 EuroBasket, where he won two games during the tournament withbuzzer-beaters. He scored 27 points during the bronze medal game againstGermany. At the2003 EuroBasket in Sweden, Navarro won a silver medal with the Spain's national team.
In Spain's seventh-place finish at the2004 Athens Summer Olympics, he scored 18 points in Spain's loss againstTeam USA. At the2005 EuroBasket, theSpanish national team, playing withoutPau Gasol, finished in fourth place. Navarro was the second leading scorer of the tournament, with an average of 25.2 points per game, finishing behind onlyDirk Nowitzki. In August 2006, he played on the Spanish national team that won the gold medal at the2006 FIBA World Championship, after they defeatedGreece in the tournament's final; after the Greeks had earlier defeated Team USA, in their semifinal, by a score of 101–95.
In September 2007, Navarro and Spain lost againstRussia, in the gold medal game at the2007 EuroBasket, which was held inMadrid, on Spain's home floor. Navarro was a member of Spain's national team that won the silver medal at the2008 Beijing Summer Olympics. Navarro scored 18 points in the gold medal game that Spain lost againstTeam USA.
Navarro was part of the Spain's national team that won the2009 EuroBasket. As the defending champions, Spain retained their European crown at the2011 EuroBasket. Navarro led his team with a game-high 27 points in the championship gameover France. He earnedAll-Tournament Team accolades, along with his teammate,Pau Gasol, and he was named theEuroBasket MVP.[20][21]
Navarro won a silver medal with Spain at the2012 London Summer Olympics. He also played at the2014 FIBA World Cup, at the2016 Rio Summer Olympics, where he won a bronze medal, and at the2017 EuroBasket, where he also won a bronze medal.
After Navarro retired from playing professional basketball, in August 2018, he began working in the front office of the SpanishLiga ACB clubFC Barcelona.[22][23] In April 2021, Navarro was appointed as Barcelona'sgeneral manager, by thePresident of the club,Joan Laporta. Navarro replacedNacho Rodríguez in the role.
| GP | Games played | GS | Games started | MPG | Minutes per game |
| FG% | Field-goal percentage | 3P% | 3-point field-goal percentage | FT% | Free-throw percentage |
| RPG | Rebounds per game | APG | Assists per game | SPG | Steals per game |
| BPG | Blocks per game | PPG | Points per game | PIR | Performance index rating |
| Bold | Career high |
| * | Led the league |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007–08 | Memphis | 82* | 30 | 25.8 | .402 | .361 | .849 | 2.6 | 2.2 | .6 | .0 | 10.9 |
| Career | 82 | 30 | 25.8 | .402 | .361 | .849 | 2.6 | 2.2 | .6 | .0 | 10.9 | |
| † | Denotes season in which Navarro won theEuroLeague |
| * | Led the league |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG | PIR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| FIBA EuroLeague | |||||||||||||
| 1997–98[24] | Barcelona | 3 | 0 | 3.0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .0 | 0.3 | 0.7 | .0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Spent the1998–99 season in theFIBA Korać Cup competition | |||||||||||||
| 1999–00[17] | Barcelona | 22 | 5 | 18.7 | .444 | .452 | .800 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.9 | .0 | 7.7 | 5.4 |
| EuroLeague | |||||||||||||
| 2000–01 | Barcelona | 12 | 8 | 27.8 | .465 | .388 | .682 | 2.8 | 2.7 | 1.1 | — | 12.7 | 12.2 |
| 2001–02 | 17 | 2 | 19.0 | .433 | .333 | .816 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 1.0 | — | 10.4 | 10.3 | |
| 2002–03† | 22 | 6 | 26.1 | .398 | .367 | .880 | 1.6 | 1.4 | .6 | .0 | 11.5 | 10.0 | |
| 2003–04 | 20 | 6 | 25.4 | .494 | .425 | .808 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.1 | .1 | 13.7 | 12.4 | |
| 2004–05 | 20 | 10 | 26.6 | .437 | .395 | .892 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.3 | — | 13.3 | 13.2 | |
| 2005–06 | 22 | 21 | 27.4 | .438 | .462 | .806 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 1.0 | — | 15.1 | 13.4 | |
| 2006–07 | 22 | 21 | 28.6 | .496 | .408 | .838 | 2.0 | 3.0 | .9 | — | 16.8 | 16.9 | |
| 2008–09 | 21 | 21* | 27.7 | .428 | .363 | .935 | 1.6 | 3.6 | 1.3 | — | 14.7 | 15.1 | |
| 2009–10† | 21 | 21 | 25.4 | .430 | .348 | .857 | 1.4 | 3.1 | .9 | — | 14.1 | 14.1 | |
| 2010–11 | 15 | 12 | 26.5 | .478 | .398 | .868 | 1.5 | 2.8 | .3 | — | 14.1 | 12.9 | |
| 2011–12 | 16 | 13 | 25.6 | .402 | .297 | .880 | 1.3 | 3.2 | 1.0 | — | 13.6 | 12.9 | |
| 2012–13 | 26 | 21 | 25.2 | .448 | .445 | .852 | 1.7 | 2.2 | .3 | — | 13.2 | 12.0 | |
| 2013–14 | 26 | 21 | 24.0 | .404 | .346 | .868 | 1.7 | 3.1 | .5 | — | 11.3 | 11.4 | |
| 2014–15 | 17 | 14 | 22.1 | .370 | .356 | .865 | 1.6 | 3.1 | .2 | — | 10.5 | 10.8 | |
| 2015–16 | 26 | 21 | 20.3 | .373 | .325 | .900 | .9 | 2.2 | .5 | — | 9.0 | 7.2 | |
| 2016–17 | 16 | 8 | 15.4 | .319 | .286 | .938 | 1.1 | 1.8 | .4 | — | 5.7 | 3.4 | |
| 2017–18 | 22 | 7 | 15.5 | .343 | .333 | .889 | 1.1 | 1.9 | .3 | — | 6.9 | 5.6 | |
| Career | 341 | 225 | 25.0 | .426 | .373 | .861 | 1.6 | 2.4 | .7 | .0 | 12.2 | 11.4 | |
| † | Denotes season in which Navarro won theLiga ACB championship |
| * | Led the league |
| Year | Team | League | GP | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998-99† |  Barcelona | ACB | 12 | 9.4 | .361 | .111 | .676 | .7 | .9 | .4 | — | 4.2 |
| 1999-2000 | 17 | 9.7 | .510 | .235 | .826 | .5 | .8 | .4 | — | 4.3 | ||
| 2000-01† | 34 | 17.1 | .374 | .231 | .796 | .9 | 1.3 | .8 | — | 7.3 | ||
| 2001-02 | 31 | 21.8 | .388 | .311 | .856 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 1.3 | — | 13.1 | ||
| 2002-03† | 34 | 28.8 | .468 | .373 | .783 | 1.9 | 2.3 | 1.0 | — | 10.2 | ||
| 2003-04† | 33 | 27.5 | .416 | .382 | .865 | 2.2 | 1.9 | .7 | .1 | 13.6 | ||
| 2004-05 | 33 | 26.1 | .503 | .473* | .783 | 1.6 | 2.3 | .8 | — | 14.3 | ||
| 2005-06 | 30 | 30.3 | .483 | .429 | .875 | 2.1 | 2.8 | .9 | — | 17.9 | ||
| 2006-07 | 33 | 30.0 | .460 | .446 | .880 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 1.5 | — | 17.3* | ||
| 2008-09† | 28 | 27.4 | .442 | .411 | .865 | 1.9 | 3.3 | .9 | — | 15.7 | ||
| 2009-10 | 33 | 25.9 | .466 | .394 | .845 | 1.6 | 2.2 | .9 | — | 14.8 | ||
| 2010-11† | 27 | 25.5 | .464 | .431 | .882 | 1.9 | 2.7 | .7 | — | 16.4 | ||
| 2011-12† | 28 | 23.8 | .419 | .367 | .864 | 1.4 | 3.0 | .4 | — | 13.7 | ||
| 2012-13 | 19 | 21.8 | .478 | .415 | .868 | 2.5 | 2.0 | .4 | — | 12.0 | ||
| 2013-14† | 28 | 22.1 | .372 | .316 | .807 | 2.3 | 3.1 | .6 | — | 9.6 | ||
| 2014-15 | 17 | 26.0 | .347 | .350 | .786 | 1.4 | 2.1 | .4 | — | 6.0 | ||
| 2014-15 | 21 | 17.0 | .417 | .381 | .917 | 1.2 | 1.9 | .5 | — | 8.1 | ||
| 2016-17 | 16 | 13.4 | .462 | .333 | .944* | .7 | 1.2 | .5 | — | 7.3 | ||
| 2017-18 | 27 | 13.1 | .405 | .413 | .895 | 1.6 | 1.2 | .3 | — | 5.6 |
Bronze
Silver
Gold Silver Silver Gold Gold Silver Bronze Bronze
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