Juancho Hernangomez thinks anything short of defending the EuroLeague title would be a failure for Panathinaikos, while also emphasizing Spain's generational shift ahead of EuroBasket.
Juancho Hernangomez is arguably playing his best basketball at Panathinaikos AKTOR Athens in the 2024-25 season.
Having penned a two-year extension with the reigning EuroLeague champions that will keep him at OAKA until 2027, the Spaniard is averaging career-highs 9.8 points, 6.3 rebounds and 14.2 in PIR with the Greens.
During Spain NT's media day, the 29-year-old forward argued that if Panathinaikos can't defend the EuroLeague title they won last year in Berlin, the current campaign will go down as a failure.
"Hopefully, it will be like last year, when we arrived at the end of the season playing our best basketball," he told reporters.
"We have some serious injuries and hopefully they can make it to the end," he added, referring to the absences of Mathias Lessort, Omer Yurtseven and Marius Grigonis.
"We are Panathinaikos and we have to try to win all the titles. When you play for a team like this, you have pressure every day. If we don’t win the EuroLeague, the season will be a failure," he stressed.
Juancho added that PAO players aim at reaching their peak in May, where the title will be at stake.
"We know that we must fight for every title, get to the Final Four. And then, anything can happen," he added in the preview of the 'Gigantes del Basket' magazine awards ceremony.
Hernangomez has just won his maiden trophy of the season - the Greek Cup. The Greens battled it out against Olympiacos Piraeus and prevailed 79-75 in Heraklion, Crete. The Spanish international had a monster perfomance of 11 points and 17 rebounds in 32 minutes as the Greens captured their 21st Cup title overall.
"It was a title that we had lost last year and it was quite painful," he recalled, referringb to the 2024 loss to Olympiacos in the same venue.
"Beating Olympiacos like that made it feel so much better. Everyone has played an important role. I am playing a lot, and I'm very happy with where I am at the moment. The coach has a lot of confidence in me and we are winning," he reflected.
“We have a team with great players and each one is very important in their role. When you win, it doesn’t matter who was the best player; the most important thing is to lift the cup," he added.
Hernangomez and the Spanish team are now focused on preparing for the two qualifying games of the last EuroBasket window against Latvia and Belgium.
"It's an important step for that generational change that we have been making for years. These kids are the future, they have talent," he said referring to players like Izan Almansa (19), Mario Saint-Supery (18) and Rafa Villar (20).
"Sometimes, I see it a bit from the outside and it makes me a bit sad that they don’t play as much as they should. I don't like seeing teams that don't have any Spaniards in their squad; it's a bit of a shame.
But I don't know what else can be done. When you're young you have to play and that's how you develop," the 2019 world champion and 2022 EuroBasket winner observed.
Juancho has realistic expectations from Spain heading into the main tournament.
"The objective is to always win it," he said.
"But we have to be realistic and know that we do not have the talent we had years ago. It will be a process of competing, of arriving at the EuroBasket in the best possible shape. In a single game, anything can happen," he pointed out.
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