Juan Carlos Navarro has signed a new one-year contract with Barcelona as the veteran is determined to play at least one more season with the Catalan giants.
It’s unsurprising that the 36-year-old Navarro has opted to ink a new short-term deal with the club that he has called home since 2008. Last season was a nightmare for the guard as he missed large chunks of the domestic season and EuroLeague campaign due to injury.
Navarro sat out for ten of Barcelona’s first eleven EuroLeague encounters with a leg injury and despite a brief return, he was hospitalised with acute appendicitis and underwent an emergency appendectomy in February. His experience and scoring prowess was certainly missed as the Catalan side missed the EuroLeague Playoffs, something that the club is unfamiliar with.
It wasn’t just the EuroLeague where Barcelona struggled, their form in the Liga Endesa Playoffs also suffered as they were knocked out in the first round by Valencia.
Such a glorious career that has included two EuroLeague titles, a Final Four MVP and a current all-time leading scorer in EuroLeague history does not deserve to go out limping. Navarro should at least go out playing at full fitness and with a team competing for titles, both domestically and continentally.
Speaking to Spanish newspaper, Sport, Navarro is motivated on playing another season with Barcelona, for whom he has been part of the team since 1997 with just a year out to play in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies.
The motivation comes from a year full of injury concerns and he is adamant to put that right.
