Minnesota Timberwolves reverse course, block Juancho Hernangomez from Olympics

Leading into the opening ceremonies for the Tokyo Olympics, Minnesota Timberwolves forward Juan Hernangomez was on the roster for Spain’s basketball team.

On Saturday, news came out that the Timberwolves reversed course and were instead opting to block their forward from participating in the Games.

Minnesota Timberwolves blocking Juancho Hernangomez from Tokyo Olympics

Hernangomez suffered a serious shoulder injury just over two weeks ago in an exhibition game while Spain was preparing for the Olympics. The early thought was that he would certainly miss the Games and could even have the start of the NBA season in fall put into jeopardy if the shoulder required surgery.

He traveled with Team Spain to the United States for another set of exhibition games and met with Timberwolves team doctors. Ultimately, the injury reportedly did not require surgery, and it came out this week that Hernangomez was included on Spain’s 12-man Olympic roster.

Suddenly, Spain announced that Hernangomez would not be on the roster due to a decision by Timberwolves president of basketball operations Gersson Rosas.

Jorge Garbajosa, president of the Spanish Basketball Federation, spoke about the issue during a press conference. Per Eurohoops.net:

"“Juancho wants to play in the Olympic Games, but Juancho won’t be able to play,” Garbajosa said in a remote press conference from Tokyo. “We’ve had countless medical meetings and we’ve never received a ‘no’. We have a received a ‘yes’. We don’t have a problem with the Minnesota Timberwolves or the NBA. It’s a problem of people – not medical personnel – who have personally decided that Juancho couldn’t play. I’m talking about their president of basketball operations [Gersson Rosas].”"

The article includes a few more quotes from Garbajosa, who is clearly incensed by the Wolves’ allegedly sudden decision.

Garbajosa calls the Wolves’ stance that their doctors never approved Hernangomez to play “incomprehensible”, claiming that there with six members of the Spanish national team in the room when Hernangomez was reportedly cleared. He also mentions “even the Timberwolves coach” congratulated Hernangomez on being able to play in Tokyo.

For his part, Rosas responded with a statement.

"“We support our international players’ decisions to play with their National teams and appreciate the passion of Juancho and the Spanish Federation to represent their country. Unfortunately, we are dealing with an active injury,” said Rosas. “Based on our team physician’s recommendation, Juancho needs time to recover from and rehabilitate his injury, and that timeline restricts Juancho’s availability to participate in the Tokyo Olympics. The determined recovery plan is the best path forward to allow Juancho to heal properly.”"

It’s clearly not a pretty situation, with Spain essentially saying that Rosas is lying, and that the Wolves medical staff and head coach Chris Finch both approved and had knowledge of Hernangomez’s intent to play.

Potentially making things even weirder is Ricky Rubio‘s presence on the team. It’s not a great look to have one of your players surely furious about a decision like this — not to mention that apparently wasn’t made seamlessly and was instead a disjointed mixed message — and also have another Timberwolves teammate on the same national team. There’s also his brother, Charlotte’s Willy Hernangomez, and several other current/former NBA players, including the Gasol brothers, on the squad.

Spain says Minnesota Timberwolves blocking Hernangomez for non-medical reason

Interestingly, Garbajosa also surmises that the reason the Wolves aren’t allowing Hernangomez to play is non-medical, saying “From that moment until Minnesota told us that he won’t play, there were a series of facts that showed that the decision isn’t of medical nature.”

Is it possible that in the last day or two, Hernangomez became an important piece of trade talks that could heat up leading into next Thursday’s NBA Draft?

It would be far from the first time that a team’s front office would have restricted a player from taking the court based on a pending deal. It would also, of course, be disingenuous, not to mention disappointing for the player if that was the reason that Hernangomez wouldn’t be able to represent his country.

That’s speculation, of course, but Spain is alleging that the reason for restricting Hernangomez is non-medical, so it’s far from crazy.

At any rate, it isn’t a great look for the Timberwolves. Let’s see how this plays out.