With the arrivals of Juancho Hernangómez to Boston Celtics and Usman Garuba to the Houston Rockets, there are now only five franchises in the NBA that have never had a Spanish presence. These are Warriors, Wizards, Nets, Heat, and Pacers. The remaining 25, in the absence of the two mentioned players making their debut, have already counted, at some point in their history, with a Spaniard in their ranks.
The most Spanish team so far are the Portland Trail Blazers. The Oregon franchise was the first to have a Spaniard: Fernando Martin (1986-87). Then they would arrive Sergio Rodriguez (2006-09), Rudy fernandez (2008-11) and Victor Claver (2012-2015). Four, in all. Three other franchises have had a triple Spanish presence: the Grizzlies (the Gasol and Navarro brothers), the Raptors (Calderón, Garbajosa and Ibaka) and the Knicks (Calderón, Sergio Rodríguez and Willy Hernangómez).
The Spanish player who has played in the most teams is José Manuel Calderón. The Pistons were his last team and in total he played in seven different teams. He landed in the NBA in 2005 and spent seven and a half seasons with the Raptors, but in recent years he has had to pack a lot. He arrived in Detroit in 2013 in an operation that sent Rudy Gay and Hamed Haddadi to Toronto. Finished the course and that’s it. The following season (2013-14) he shared with Nowitzki on the Mavericks and a year later he would land in The Big Apple. Two seasons with the Knicks (2014-16) and back to the West Coast to play for the Lakers. The Los Angeles team cut him in February and the point guard signed a contract with the Warriors that was eventually broken. TOThe final ended in Atlanta and next season he will fight for the ring with LeBron’s Cavaliers.