Chris Duarte was able to play for Real Madrid: the story of the Indiana Pacers player that surprises the world

With 24 years, Chris Duarte arrived at the NBA being drafted in the 13th position of the 2021 Draft by the Indiana Pacers. The native of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, had to go through college and university to reach the best league in the world; however, the small forward could have arrived earlier if he had taken a different path. At a press conference organized by the NBAthe former University of Oregon player revealed that he ruled out going to Real Madrid because “he did not know that there was a very important scouting in Europe”.

As part of the activities of the 16th annual edition of Noches Éne•Bé•A (Latin nights in the NBA), Indiana Pacers will give recognition to the Dominican Chris Duarte on March 15 when they take on the Memphis Grizzlies, with social media posts and in-arena items highlighting local Hispanic businesses and organizations. What’s more, Duarte will deliver a message in Spanish to fans during the game.

Because of this, the NBA called a press conference with the player from Indiana Pacers. In dialogue with Tab Sports, Chris Duarte reflected on his career and what he would “say to a young Duarte”: “I would recommend young Chris to agree to go to Europe. Or that he agrees to go to Argentina. I’m not complaining about anything in my career, I loved college, but in Europe the sport is professional. There I would have only concentrated on basketball, I feel like I wasted a little time studying a career that I didn’t like”.

After that, Chris Duarte mentioned that he refused to go to the Real MadridThis piqued my interest. When the moderator gave me my turn, I asked him the following: “You mentioned the opportunities they offer to young people and the possibility you had of going to Madrid. Tell me about that story and also the reason for your rejection from one of the most important clubs in the world”.

The native of Puerto Plata responded as follows: “I turned them down because I didn’t know anything about the business. I did not know that they had many scouts from the NBAwhich was a highly regarded and weighted league in the NBA. I didn’t understand the business of basketball and I didn’t know its structure, apart from the fact that my dream was to go to college. I wanted to get there, play my best basketball and then go to college and show up for the Draft.”

Then he said the following: “If I had known about the business, I would have gone to the NBA. They contacted me because they saw me play, they noticed me because of my talent. What I did in high school helped me stand out greatly and thanks to that I was able to have a concrete offer from the Real Madrid. A friend from New York mediated but in the end I did not agree to go to Spain”.

Most players in the first round of the NBA Draft usually reach the best league in the world before the age of 20; however, Chris took a little longer to arrive. However, the native of Puerto Plata does not regret the path he took to arrive at the NBA. His big goal for the end of the season is as follows: “Keep improving my game and think about growing as a player season after season.”

as known, Duarte is a player of Indiana Pacers, a franchise that started the season with great expectations; however, they later changed their goal and decided to exchange players to think about a future project.