By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Honoring a promise made to his late father, Rudy Fernandez will be calling it a day at the international level following the 2024 Olympic Games.
Fernandez, 38, revealed the plan to Diario de Mallorca. “I promised my father that the Paris Games would be my last international tournament,” he said. His father Rodolfo Fernandez passed away in 2022.
Spain is among the favorites to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games through the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Possibly falling shy of a berth in Asia from 25 August to 10 September, a second chance via the 2024 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournaments is considered likely. The experienced forward will indeed suit up in the approaching World Cup with the senior national team of his country, barring an unexpected setback.
A regular for Spain for over two decades, from the junior to the senior level, Fernandez contributed to capturing gold in both the 2006 and 2019 editions of the FIBA World Cup. In addition, he earned four EuroBasket gold medals to go with silver twice and bronze once in the Olympic Games of 2008, 2012, and 2016, respectively.
A longtime player of Real Madrid at the club level, he is likely to wrap up his career at the club level with the Whites. Besides highlighting his run with the storied club based in Spain’s capital with Turkish Airlines EuroLeague championships and multiple domestic titles, he logged 267 games played in the NBA between the Portland Trail Blazers and Denver Nuggets from 2008 to 2012. Introducing himself, his first professional team was DKV Joventut from 2002 to 2008.