Spain sent the Jazz a point guard they had to wait two years for — drafted 24th in 2001, Lopez tore his right ACL before ever suiting up and missed all of 2002–03. Healthy at last, he played every one of 82 games in 2003–04 behind Carlos Arroyo, handing out 3.7 assists a night. In 2005 he left in the largest trade in NBA history, a five-team deal moving 13 players.
Some had billed him as a Spanish John Stockton. He returned to Real Madrid and played in Europe until 2016, winning a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics and EuroBasket gold in 2009 with Spain, plus junior world and European titles in his teens.
HOW HE CAME & WENTUtah took him 24th overall in 2001 and waited two years for him to arrive from Spain, by which time his knee had gone. On August 3, 2005 he was moved to Memphis in the largest trade in NBA history — five teams, thirteen players.
No photograph of this signature is online yet.
| SEASON | TEAM | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003–04 | UTA | 82 | 19.7 | 7.0 | 1.9 | 3.7 | 0.8 | 0.0 | .431 | .294 | .863 |
| 2004–05 | UTA | 31 | 16.7 | 5.2 | 1.3 | 4.0 | 0.7 | 0.1 | .422 | .444 | .818 |
| JAZZ TOTAL | 2 SEASONS | 113 | 18.9 | 6.5 | 1.7 | 3.8 | 0.7 | 0.0 | .429 | .346 | .853 |
Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗ · Wikipedia ↗