The philosophy of life and sports that Juancho Hernangómez holds dear is completely different from the one that prevails in Greece.
We realized this during the 2025 finals, when, after Panathinaikos’s loss to Olympiacos in the final game, he remained on the court at SEF for the award ceremony and did not head to the locker room.
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The Spanish power forward explained his reasoning, emphasizing that he was raised that way, but made it clear that he doesn’t blame anyone who can’t react in the same way.
“It has to do with basketball and my respect for the game. I feel that we’re competitors; no matter what happens, we want to win with all our hearts—we really want it. But as soon as the game is over, you’ve given it your all, and if someone is better than you—and proves it that year or in that tournament—you have to congratulate them,” he emphasized initially while speaking to Nova.
“They have their own lives; they work very hard to win those same trophies. In sports, there’s only one winner, and everyone else loses. That’s what makes you realize, when you win, just how hard it is to win. A lot of things have to happen for you to win and enjoy it so much. That’s why I respect every opponent. I was raised that way—that’s all,” he added.
“When I see the trophy, I understand anyone who doesn’t want to look at it and would rather walk away—I completely get it. You don’t have to say, ‘Oh, Juancho is a good person because he did that’—no. I did it because that’s how I’ve always been. If you don’t want to do it, that’s perfectly fine. You’re not a bad person just because you don’t want to see someone else’s trophy. So, we just don’t need to judge everything all the time,” he concluded.
*photo source: paobc.gr
