Eduardo Nájera
Eduardo Nájera smiling with his arms folded, wearing a basketball jersey
Nájera in 2008
Dallas Mavericks
PositionScout
LeagueNBA
Personal information
Born (1976-07-11) July 11, 1976
Ciudad Meoqui, Chihuahua, Mexico
NationalityMexican
Listed height6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
High schoolCornerstone Christian Academy
(San Antonio, Texas)
CollegeOklahoma (1996–2000)
NBA draft2000: 2nd round, 38th overall pick
Selected by the Houston Rockets
Playing career2000–2012
PositionPower forward / small forward
Number14, 21
Coaching career2012–2015
Career history
As player:
2000–2004Dallas Mavericks
2004–2005Golden State Warriors
2005–2008Denver Nuggets
2008–2010New Jersey Nets
2010Dallas Mavericks
2010–2012Charlotte Bobcats
As coach:
2012–2015Texas Legends
Career highlights and awards
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Eduardo Alonso Nájera Pérez[1] (Spanish pronunciation: [eˈðwaɾðo ˈnaxeɾa][2]) (born July 11, 1976) is a Mexican former professional basketball player who is currently a scout for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is also a pregame and postgame analyst on Mavericks Live on Fox Sports Southwest, where he is identified as Eddie. Before being promoted to a scout with the Mavs, he was head coach of the Texas Legends of the NBA D-League.

Personal information

Nájera was only the second Mexican-born NBA player (Horacio Llamas was the first) and was the first Mexican player to be drafted. He is the son of Servando Nájera and Rosa Irene Pérez.[3]

College basketball

Nájera played college basketball at the University of Oklahoma, in Norman, Oklahoma, United States, from 1997 to 2000, becoming a major star there. He helped the team to four consecutive NCAA tournament appearances during his college career, as well as finishing in the school's all-time top ten in nine statistical categories. Before being drafted into the NBA in 2000, Nájera received rave reviews from scouts, who boasted on Nájera's quick first step and extraordinary rebounding ability. He is only the second Mexican-born player to join the NBA.[2] He was the first Mexican player to be drafted into the NBA (Horacio Llamas being undrafted).[1]

Nájera played for the Mexican team in the 1997 World University Games and helped them achieve a fourth-place finish in the 1999 World University Games.[1]

Professional career

Dallas Mavericks (2000–2004)

He saw significant action as a member of the Dallas Mavericks in 2000–01 and 2001–02, but recurrent knee injuries limited his action in his last two years in Dallas.

He coached at the first-ever Basketball Without Borders Americas tournament in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during the 2004 NBA Summer of Goodwill.[4]

Golden State Warriors (2004–2005)

On August 24, 2004, Nájera was traded along with Luis Flores, Christian Laettner, Mladen Sekularac, cash, a 2007 first round draft pick, and another future first round draft pick to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for Erick Dampier, Dan Dickau, Evan Eschmeyer, and Steve Logan.[5] In Golden State, Najera again put in modest minutes and was a solid contributor.

Denver Nuggets (2005–2008)

Najera with the Denver Nuggets

On February 24, 2005, Nájera was then sent to the Denver Nuggets along with Luis Flores and a future first-round pick in exchange for Nikoloz Tskitishvili and Rodney White, where he would have some of his most productive seasons as an NBA player.[6]

Also in 2006, an exhibition match was played in Monterrey, Mexico, between the Golden State Warriors and the Denver Nuggets.

On April 27, 2006, Nájera started his first playoff game for the Nuggets in Game 3 of their first round series facing the Los Angeles Clippers. He replaced Kenyon Martin who was suspended indefinitely for "conduct detrimental to the team".

He was partly involved in the December 2006 Knicks–Nuggets brawl. While not involved in the actual fighting, he did try to separate the players. He was ejected from the game for leaving the bench.[7]

New Jersey Nets (2008–2010)

On July 11, 2008, Nájera signed a contract with the New Jersey Nets for 4 years $12 million.[8][9] He stated that he would make it a point to turn the Nets' young forwards Yi Jianlian and Ryan Anderson and center Brook Lopez into stronger, tougher players. Nájera turned down more money and a chance to return to his college state, Oklahoma City Thunder. He also turned down an offer from the New Orleans Hornets in order to take a chance to lead a young and talented New Orleans team.

Return to Dallas (2010–2011)

On January 11, 2010, Nájera was traded to the Dallas Mavericks for Kris Humphries and Shawne Williams.[10]

Charlotte Bobcats (2010–2012)

On July 13, 2010, Nájera was traded to the Charlotte Bobcats along with Erick Dampier and Matt Carroll in exchange for Tyson Chandler and Alexis Ajinça.[11] Nájera's final NBA game ever was played on April 6, 2012, in a 90–95 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks where he only played for two minutes and recorded no stats, suffering a career-ending facial injury.[12]

Coaching career

In 2012, after he retired as a player, Nájera became head coach of the NBA D-League's Texas Legends.[13] Prior to the 2015–16 season, Texas replaced him with his assistant coach, Nick Van Exel.[14]

Off the court

In 2000, Eduardo Nájera was named Third Team All-American by both the Associated Press and the National Association of Basketball Coaches, being the first Mexican-born to be named so.

In 2000, Nájera graduated from the University of Oklahoma with a degree in sociology.

In the same year, he received the Chip Hilton Player of the Year Award from the Basketball Hall of Fame, an award given to a player who has demonstrated personal character both on and off the court.[2]

In 2001, Nájera served as the United Nations Drug Control Programme Goodwill Ambassador for Sports Against Drugs. In 2004, he established the Eduardo Najera Foundation for Latino Achievement, which provides college scholarships for outstanding Latino students facing barriers to their educations, and in 2006, he received the Chopper Travaglini Award for demonstrating outstanding charity work in the Denver community.[15]

NBA career statistics

Eduardo Najera in the 2009–10 season
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2000–01 Dallas 40410.8.523.333.4242.4.7.3.23.3
2001–02 Dallas 621121.9.500.000.6765.5.6.9.56.5
2002–03 Dallas 481223.0.558.000.6814.61.0.8.56.7
2003–04 Dallas 58712.4.444.500.6522.7.4.6.33.0
2004–05 Golden State 42414.5.407.400.6442.8.9.4.24.2
2004–05 Denver 26022.1.500.000.6304.81.1.9.56.9
2005–06 Denver 64322.6.422.333.7815.1.8.8.55.4
2006–07 Denver 753622.1.576.083.7154.1.91.0.36.6
2007–08 Denver 78321.3.473.361.7084.31.2.9.55.9
2008–09 New Jersey 27011.8.446.200.3642.5.7.4.12.9
2009–10 New Jersey 13215.7.377.176.5002.91.2.7.23.8
2009–10 Dallas 33314.6.452.340.6672.3.4.5.43.3
2010–11 Charlotte 31012.0.361.324.5451.4.6.4.22.2
2011–12 Charlotte 22012.3.375.276.5002.3.5.9.22.6
Career 6198518.1.481.311.6713.7.8.7.44.9

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2001 Dallas 706.3.529.750.0002.1.1.1.13.0
2002 Dallas 8415.3.696.000.6251.6.1.4.04.6
2003 Dallas 19520.7.453.000.7923.9.8.7.26.1
2004 Dallas 5011.4.455.0001.0003.4.6.6.42.4
2005 Denver 206.5.000.000.0001.0.5.0.0.0
2006 Denver 4322.3.214.000.5003.8.5.8.02.0
2007 Denver 5019.2.235.000.5005.6.4.4.21.8
2008 Denver 4019.5.500.400.0003.31.5.8.34.0
2010 Dallas 507.2.250.000.0001.8.0.4.0.8
Career 591215.7.443.294.7503.2.5.5.23.8

Career highs

  • Points: 19: 2 times[16]
  • Rebounds: 15: vs. Houston 04/11/02
  • Assists: 7: @ Milwaukee 01/09/09
  • Steals: 6: 2 times
  • Blocks: 4: vs. Seattle 12/29/05

References

  1. 1 2 3 Meet Eduardo Najera
  2. 1 2 3 NBA.com: Eduardo Najera Bio Page Archived December 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Player Profiles by Interbasket, Eduardo Najera
  4. ↑ NBA.com, Eduardo Najera, Bio page Archived December 2, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ "Warriors And Dallas Consummate Eight-Player Trade". NBA.com. August 24, 2004. Archived from the original on March 8, 2009. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  6. ↑ "Nuggets Acquire Nájera, Flores, First-Round Pick From Warriors". NBA.com. February 24, 2005. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  7. ↑ Conroy, Scott (December 16, 2006). "10 Players Ejected In Ugly NBA Brawl". CBS News. New York: CBS. Retrieved July 29, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Nets Reach Agreements With Eduardo Nájera and Jarvis Hayes". NBA.com. July 11, 2008. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  9. ↑ "Nets reach agreements with Nájera, Hayes". Archived from the original on July 16, 2008.
  10. ↑ "MAVERICKS ACQUIRE FORWARD EDUARDO NAJERA". NBA.com. January 11, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  11. ↑ "Bobcats Acquire Carroll, Dampier and Nájera from Mavericks". NBA.com. July 13, 2010. Archived from the original on August 11, 2010. Retrieved July 13, 2010.
  12. ↑ "Eduardo Najera Injury Video: Fractured Skull Suffered Following Sharp Elbow". SBNation.com. April 6, 2012. Retrieved December 7, 2022.
  13. ↑ D-League Texas Legends name Eduardo Nájera head coach
  14. ↑ Grant, Ethan; O'Dell, Chris (July 9, 2015). "Change at the top: Legends name ex-Mavericks guard Van Exel head coach". Frisco Enterprise. Archived from the original on January 15, 2020.
  15. ↑ "2006 Chopper Travaglini Award". Denver Nuggets. Archived from the original on August 26, 2007.
  16. ↑ "Eduardo Najera Career Bests and Rankings, Charlotte Hornets, News, Rumors, NBA Stats, NCAA Stats, Game Logs, Awards – RealGM". basketball.realgm.com. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
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