By Alex Molina / info@eurohoops.net
Hugo González’s path toward the NBA has already provided him with experiences many young prospects can only imagine.
From guarding some of the league’s biggest stars to witnessing firsthand the lifestyle that surrounds the game, the Spanish guard recently reflected on what has been a formative journey so far in an interview with Drafteados.
One of the most striking aspects of González’s development has been the opportunity to defend elite NBA scorers. For him, those moments have felt like an education at the highest level, but he couldn’t do it against one of his idols. “One of my favorite NBA players is Anthony Edwards. I really wanted to play against him.”
That opportunity, however, did not fully materialize during that game in Minnesota, where González did not see the floor.
Still, he vividly remembers his brief but intense matchup against Kevin Durant, one of the most unstoppable scorers the game has ever seen.
“I remember playing six, seven minutes against Kevin Durant,” he recalled. “In the first two minutes, I fouled him twice. I didn’t see him, I didn’t see him. He faked me out and I didn’t see him.”
The second foul came as González tried to adjust, attempting to deny Durant the ball closer to the basket. The whistle came anyway, much to his frustration.
“I tried to push him a little further out so he’d receive the ball away from the basket, and they called a foul on me,” González explained. “I told the referee, ‘It’s not a foul.’ Then a coach friend of mine said, ‘Did you see how he looked at you? He looked at you like, ‘It’s a foul.’”
Beyond the fouls and the learning curve, González was struck by Durant’s effortless dominance.
“And then you see him play, and if you’re only paying attention to him, when he wants to score or when he feels like contributing or shooting or whatever, he goes and does it and doesn’t see you,” González said. “He just goes, gets the ball, does what he does best, which is to be unstoppable, and he scores regardless of who’s in front of him.”
Away from the court, González has been equally impressed by another side of NBA life: how players and their families are treated by franchises. For the young prospect, the level of care and attention was something he did not fully expect.”You’re an NBA player, but it’s like you’re a rock star going to give a concert. It’s incredible.”
That treatment extends well beyond the players themselves. González highlighted how franchises go out of their way to ensure families are comfortable and taken care of on game days.
“Both you and your family are treated incredibly well,” he explained. “Sometimes I tell my brother that they treat them almost better than me. In the arenas, they put families in special lounges where they can stay as long as they want before the game, eat whatever they want, with sofas and everything, in case they don’t even want to go out to the stands to watch.”
Teams often organize activities for families as well, something González says has a direct impact on his peace of mind as a player.
“In that sense, seeing my family—my mother and my brother, in my case- doing well makes you feel calmer and lets you stop worrying,” he said.