The new FC Barcelona center will come up against his former team, Real Madrid, for the first time in the EuroLeague since leaving the club.
Willy Hernangomez joins long list of El Clásico crossover players
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As FC Barcelona travels to take on Real Madrid at WiZink Center in Round 5 in a battle for first place, two of the visitors -- Nico Laprovittola and summer recruit Willy Hernangomez -- will find the setting more than familiar.
As many as 24 players have worn both teams' jerseys over the years. The latest player to join that list is Hernangomez, who came through Real’s academy and spent seven years in the NBA, only to sign with Barca when returning to his native Spain over the summer.
Crossing the divide
When he joins the action on Thursday, Hernangomez will also become eighth player to play on both sides of the EuroLeague edition of El Clásico this century. He Hernangomez is the fourth player on that list to have played first for Real before joining Barca, following in the footsteps of Laprovittola, Nikola Mirotic and Ante Tomic. Mirotic managed to reach the EuroLeague Championship Game with both teams, losing in 2013 and 2014 with Real and in 2021 with Barca. Tomic made it to the Final Four with both teams, too, but lost in the semis.
Four more players moved in the opposite direction, from Barca to Real, while taking part in EuroLeague derbies for each team against the other. Mario Hezonja, a former Barca youngster, won a EuroLeague title with Real last season; Adam Hanga managed to reach the Final Four with both teams; while Thomas Heurtel and Pepe Sanchez ran the point in EuroLeague games against both their once and future teams. Other players who wore both jerseys since 2000 but did not play El Clásico in the EuroLeague for both are Alain Digbeu, Ioannis Bourousis, Michael Hawkins and Maciej Lampe.
Stepping up against former teams
Some of these crossover players have had monster performances against their old teams in previous EuroLeague editions of El Clásico.
After joining Barca, Tomic had 18 points, 12 rebounds and a PIR of 34 against Real in the 2013 EuroLeague Semifinals, however his hold team won 67-74. Tomic also had a double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds against Los Blancos in a 77-70 victory for Barca in March 2019.
Mirotic established career highs of 31 points and 39 PIR for Barca in a 93-80 win over Real in December 2021, then matched that PIR with 26 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists in that season's semifinals despite a 83-86 loss to his former team.
Hezonja was a main pillar for Real against his old team in a 2023 semifinals victory over Barca, getting 14 points, 9 rebounds and a PIR of 18.
Laprovittola had 20 points, 7 rebounds and a PIR of 27 in less than 20 minutes to lead Barca to a 68-86 triumph in the Spanish capital in February 2022.
Can Hernangomez replicate the successes of Bodiroga, Hezonja?
Looking further back, another 16 players played for both teams in the past. Arguably the most successful of them was Dejan Bodiroga, who won continental trophies with both teams, claiming the 1997 Saporta Cup crown with Real and lifting the 2003 EuroLeague trophy with Barca, the club's first, as the Final Four MVP. Bodiroga, the current Euroleague Basketball president, also played for Real first before joining Barca. In between, he won two EuroLeague titles with Panathinaikos Athens, in 2000 and 2002.
Only Bodiroga and Hezonja played for both teams and won a EuroLeague title with one of them. Hernangomez joined Real's main roster the summer after the team's 2015 EuroLeague title and was into his seven-season NBA stint before Real won again in 2018. Now, having taken the "air bridge", as they say in Spain, between the two, Hernangomez is ready to challenge his old team's recent dominance while trying to bring Barcelona its first title since 2010.
"I truly appreciate what [Real] did for me," Hernangomez said in a recent interview. "They helped me to be the person that I am right now. But Barcelona is the perfect place. Being in a great city, being in an amazing country, my country, [I am] able to play basketball and enjoy the sport that I love."
Time will tell if Hernangomez gets to face his former team in a EuroLeague Championship Game, which would be a first. Real and Barca have never competed in a continental final, whether in football or basketball. Right now, they are the only undefeated teams left in the EuroLeague this season, so Thursday night's game at WiZink Center promises to be a top-class affair.