FC Barcelona Basketball announced on Friday that Juan Carlos Navarro is retiring from basketball and joining the team’s staff for the 2018-19 season.
Navarro has some unique ties to Wizards history. Washington selected him with the 40th overall pick in the 2002 NBA Draft, but Navarro opted to stay in Spain after he was selected and build up his value. He was named Spanish League MVP in 2006 and decided to make the jump the following year.
Unfortunately, there was one problem: Second round picks don’t have rookie-scale contracts like first rounders; they have to be signed with cap space or an exception.