Jorge Garbajosa Chaparro (born 19 December 1977) is a Spanish former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player, the outgoing president of the

Spanish Basketball Federation The Spanish Basketball Federation (; FEB) is the governing body of basketball in Spain. Based in Madrid, it was founded on 31 July 1923 in Barcelona, Spain. It organizes all the female national competitions ( Liga Femenina (1st), Liga Femenina ...

, and the current President of

FIBA Europe FIBA Europe is the administrative body for basketball in Europe, within the FIBA, International Basketball Federation (FIBA), which includes all List of men's national basketball teams#FIBA Europe, 50 national European basketball federations. ...

. Standing at 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in), he played both

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

and

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

. He was an

All-EuroLeague The All-EuroLeague Team is an award for Europe's premier level league, the EuroLeague, that is given to the league's top ten basketball players for each season, since the 2000–01 season. During the FIBA era of the EuroLeague, players were honor ...

first team selection in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

, and an

second team selection in

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, while playing for

Unicaja Unicaja is a Spanish savings bank based in Málaga and chartered as a caja de ahorros providing retail banking services. The banks full name is ''Monte de Piedad y Caja de Ahorros de Ronda, Cádiz, Almería, Málaga y Antequera'' after the ...

. During his stint in the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

, he was named to the

NBA All-Rookie First Team The NBA All-Rookie Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1962–63 NBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the NBA head coaches who are not allowed to vote for play ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. A serious injury the following season cut his NBA career short, and he never truly recovered until his retirement. He played internationally with the senior Spain national team, which won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

at the

EuroBasket 2001 The 2001 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2001, was the 32nd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2002 FIBA World Championship, giving a ...

, two

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

s at the

EuroBasket 2003 The 2003 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2003, was the 33rd FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as the Europe qualifier for the 2004 Summer Olympics, giving a berth ...

and

, and a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

at the

EuroBasket 2009 The 2009 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2009, was the 36th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Poland, began on 7 September and concluded with the ...

. During his tenure their highest achievement was the gold medal at the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

, where his stellar play earned him All-tournament honors. In 2006, Garbajosa was named Mr Europa Player of the year by Italian weekly magazine '' SuperBasket''.Jorge Garbajosa "Mister Europa 2006" for Superbasket"
fiba.qq.com, 1 January 2007, accessed 12 September 2007.

Professional career

Europe

Garbajosa began his career playing for Taugrés, later known as TAU Cerámica, between 1995 and 2000."Raptors Sign Free Agent Jorge Garbajosa"
nba.com/raptors, 24 July 2006. In the 1998–99 season, he guided Baskonia to a Spanish King's Cup victory.Jorge Garbajosa Info Page - Bio
, nba.com, accessed 25 February 2007. Garbajosa then spent four seasons at Benetton Treviso between 2000 and 2004 under future

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...

Vice-President and Assistant

General Manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...

Maurizio Gherardini Maurizio 'Mo' Gherardini (born September 22, 1955) is an Italian sportsman, currently serving as a general manager of Fenerbahçe. In 2017, he was named the EuroLeague Executive of the Year in a year in which his club Fenerbahçe won the EuroLe ...

and

New York Knicks The New York Knickerbockers, shortened and more commonly referred to as the New York Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Manhattan. The Knicks compete in the Na ...

head coach

Mike D'Antoni Michael Andrew D'Antoni (born May 8, 1951) is an American-Italian professional basketball coach and former player who most recently served as a coaching advisor for the New Orleans Pelicans of the National Basketball Association (NBA). While h ...

. He won two Italian National Cups, two Italian Super Cups and two Italian League championships with Benetton and averaged 13.8

points A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

, 6.7

rebounds 'Rebound' is a term used in sports to describe the ball (or puck or other object of play) becoming available for possession by either opponent after an attempt to put the ball or puck into the goal has been unsuccessful. Rebounds are generally ...

and a

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

-best 2.85 steals per game, en route to

2002–03 First Team honors, and being named the 2003

Eurobasket.com Eurobasket.com, also commonly referred to as "Eurobasket News", is a basketball-centered website that provides coverage of every professional and semi-professional club basketball league from around the world, as well as many amateur level lea ...

Player of the Year. Garbajosa spent his next two seasons (2004–06) with

, helping them to win the 2005–06 Spanish League championship and

Spanish Cup The , commonly known as , or (in English) the Spanish Cup or King's Cup, and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–1936) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–1976), is an annual knockout football competition in Spanish f ...

. He was in the top 15 in scoring (14.9 points per game) and rebounding (6.9 rebounds per game) in the

2005–06 EuroLeague The 2005–06 Euroleague was the 6th season of the professional basketball competition for elite clubs throughout Europe, organised by Euroleague Basketball Company, and it was the 49th season of the premier competition for European men's clubs o ...

season, and averaged 13.3 points and 6.4 rebounds domestically, in 42 Spanish league outings, shooting 55% from the field and 81% from the

free throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the restricted area. Free throws ...

line. Garbajosa was also the 2005 Spanish Cup

MVP MVP most commonly refers to: * Most valuable player, an award, typically for the best performing player in a sport or competition * Minimum viable product, a concept for feature estimating used in business and engineering MVP may also refer to: ...

, and the 2006 Spanish League Finals MVP, and earned

Second Team honors. Overall, in his 11 seasons with the three clubs, Garbajosa had regular-season averages of 10.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 362 Spanish national domestic league games, and averaged 13.0 points, 6.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals in 105 EuroLeague games.

NBA

On 24 July 2006, the

officially signed Garbajosa to a three-year contract amounting to about US$12 million. He wore number 15 for the Raptors, previously worn by ex-Raptors star

Vince Carter Vincent Lamar Carter Jr. (born January 26, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who played for 22 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He primarily played the shooting guard and small forward positions, b ...

. Given his pedigree, Garbajosa was a regular starter at the

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

position. For the first half of the season, Garbajosa was instrumental in driving the Raptors past the .500 mark and he was awarded Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month honours in December 2006. On 26 March 2007, Garbajosa suffered an injury to his left leg during a regular-season matchup against the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

. The injury was serious, as he was carried out on a stretcher in considerable pain. Doctors in Toronto performed surgery to repair a broken

fibula The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) or calf bone is a leg bone on the lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones. ...

, a displaced ankle and ligament damage. Because his recovery time was estimated to be in the range of six months, he was forced to miss the rest of the season and the entire post-season. He averaged 8.5 points and 4.9 rebounds per game after 67 appearances in his debut season for the Raptors.Jorge Garbajosa Info Page - Career Stats and Totals
, nba.com, accessed 18 March 2007. Garbajosa and Raptors teammate

Andrea Bargnani Andrea Bargnani (; born 26 October 1985) is an Italian former professional basketball player. The power forward- center played for Benetton Treviso in the Italian LBA and the EuroLeague before being selected first overall in the 2006 NBA draf ...

were named to the

NBA All-Rookie Team The NBA All-Rookie Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1962–63 NBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the NBA head coaches who are not allowed to vote for play ...

at the end of the season. Garbajosa returned to play with the Raptors for the 2007–08 season, but after meeting with a specialist on 26 November, he chose to have further surgery on his leg and ankle. The operation took place on 11 December 2007. In June 2008, negotiations took place in an attempt by the Raptors to buy out the remaining year of his contract. Garbajosa had previously been named to the 2008 Spanish Olympic basketball squad, against the wishes of the Raptors. On 18 June 2008, the Raptors officially bought out Garbajosa's contract. While playing for the Raptors, his nickname was "The Garbage Man."

Return to Europe

In the 2008 off-season, Garbajosa signed a two-year,

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

6 million

net income In business and Accountancy, accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and Amortization (a ...

contract with the

Russian Super League The Russian Superleague (, ''Russian Championship Superleague''), commonly abbreviated as RSL, was the highest division of the main professional ice hockey league in Russia. It was considered the second-best league in the world, after the Nation ...

club Khimki Moscow Region, giving him one of the most expensive contracts in Europe. The next year, however, he was allowed to terminate his contract in order to return to Spain to sign with

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

. The transfer was announced by the club after weeks of speculation on 15 August 2009. In 2011, Garbajosa and Real Madrid reached an agreement to rescind the player's contract. In March 2011, he signed with

. In May 2012, he decided to end his career.

National team career

Garbajosa played internationally with the senior Spain national teams at two Summer Olympiads: the

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

. He also won medals at two

EuroBasket EuroBasket, also commonly referred to as the European Basketball Championship, is the main international basketball competition that is contested quadrennially, by the senior men's national teams that are governed by FIBA Europe, which is the E ...

s: a

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

, and a

. On 3 September 2006, his team won the gold medal at the

2006 FIBA World Championship The 2006 FIBA World Championship was the 15th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's national teams. The tournament was hosted by Japan and held from 19 August to 3 September 2006. It was co-organised b ...

; he scored a game-high 20 points and collected 10 rebounds in the final against

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

. His tournament average was 12.6 points and 5.3 rebounds. In addition to winning the gold medal, Garbajosa made the All-Tournament team, along with teammate

Pau Gasol Pau Gasol Sáez (, ; born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish former professional basketball player. He was a six-time NBA All-Star Game, NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. Gasol ...

. On 1 January 2007, Garbajosa was named Mister Europa 2006, by Italian weekly magazine '' SuperBasket''. Some of the other

players that have been given that award are

Dirk Nowitzki Dirk Werner Nowitzki (; born June 19, 1978) is a German former professional basketball player who is a special advisor for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Listed at , he is widely regarded as one of the great ...

(2005) and

(2004). At the

2007 EuroBasket The 2007 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2007, was the 35th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 2008 Summer Olympics, giving a berth to th ...

, Garbajosa was a key player for the Spanish team. He averaged 7.8 points per game and 3.1 rebounds per game, in nine games, but Spain lost 59–60 to the Russian national team in the final. He went on to win a silver medal at the

2008 Summer Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

, and a gold medal at the

2009 EuroBasket The 2009 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 2009, was the 36th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe. The tournament, which was hosted by Poland, began on 7 September and concluded with the ...

Post-retirement

On 9 July 2016, Garbajosa was appointed as President of the

. He was reelected to the position in 2020 as the only candidate. On 20 May 2023, Garbajosa was elected as the new President of

by the general assembly with 35 out of 50 votes, succeeding

Turgay Demirel Turgay Demirel (born 2 May 1957) is a Turkish basketball executive and former basketball player, who is the president of FIBA Europe, a vice-president of FIBA and the former president of the Turkish Basketball Federation. Early years Demirel wa ...

for the following four years. He assumed the position immediately, giving him three months to call elections for the next President of the

. By virtue of being president of one of FIBA's zones, he is also a member of the

FIBA Central Board The FIBA Central Board is an institution of FIBA (the governing body of basketball). It is the highest executive body of the organization, with the role of overseeing basketball globally. A majority of its members are elected by the FIBA Congress, ...

and serves as one of its vice presidents.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2000–01 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=4, Benetton , 15 , , 13 , , 24.6 , , .621 , , .524 , , .712 , , 4.9 , , .9 , , 1.3 , , .8 , , 12.4 , , 15.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2001–02 , 20 , , 16 , , 26.4 , , .466 , , .351 , , .823 , , 5.9 , , 1.1 , , 2.0 , , .6 , , 11.5 , , 15.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2002–03 , 22 , , 21 , , 27.9 , , .429 , , .391 , , .756 , , 6.7 , , 1.2 , , style="background:#cfecec;", 2.3 , , .7 , , 12.3 , , 19.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2003–04 , 18 , , 17 , , 28.3 , , .519 , , .410 , , .714 , , 5.8 , , 1.1 , , 1.7 , , .6 , , 13.8 , , 18.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2004–05 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2,

, 13 , , 12 , , 32.9 , , .413 , , .348 , , .800 , , 7.8 , , 1.7 , , 1.6 , , .9 , , 14.0 , , 21.2 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2005–06 , 18 , , 16 , , 35.2 , , .411 , , .396 , , .771 , , 6.9 , , 2.3 , , 1.8 , , .8 , , 14.9 , , 19.3 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2,

, 20 , , 16 , , 21.9 , , .455 , , .373 , , .786 , , 4.0 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , .2 , , 8.2 , , 9.8 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 11 , , 1 , , 16.2 , , .422 , , .345 , , .786 , , 2.7 , , .3 , , .6 , , .5 , , 5.4 , , 6.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;", Unicaja , 14 , , 3 , , 20.0 , , .353 , , .271 , , 1.000 , , 2.9 , , .9 , , .9 , , .2 , , 6.2 , , 6.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 151 , , 115 , , 26.3 , , .538 , , .374 , , .772 , , 5.4 , , 1.2 , , 1.5 , , .6 , , 11.2 , , 15.1

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, 67 , , 60 , , 28.5 , , .420 , , .342 , , .731 , , 4.9 , , 1.9 , , 1.2 , , .2 , , 8.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 7 , , 0 , , 10.6 , , .320 , , .375 , , .000 , , 2.1 , , .4 , , .4 , , .0 , , 3.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 74 , , 60 , , 26.8 , , .415 , , .344 , , .731 , , 4.7 , , 1.7 , , 1.1 , , .2 , , 8.0

References

External links

*
Jorge Garbajosa
at

Euroleague.net The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...