Fernando Martin, the first Spaniard to play in the NBA. Martin, a 6-10 power forward, signed as a free agent with the Portland Trail Blazers on May 6, 1986, playing 24 games for Portland in 1986-87, recording 22 points, 28 rebounds, nine assists and seven steals in 146 minutes.After one season with the Trail Blazers, he returned to Spain to play for Real Madrid, where he played from 1981-1986 and 1987-89. Martin made 86 appearances on the Spanish National Team, earning the silver medal in the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Martin was enshrined in the FIBA Hall of Fame in the inaugural class on March 1, 2007.
Rudy Fernandez paid a very thoughtful tribune to Spain’s first NBA player last night in the slam-dunk contest, by wearing a replica of Fernando Martin’s Trail Blazer uniform for his first dunk. It’s a shame the people doing the broadcast on TNT were not educated, prior to the event, about Martin. And then they might have at least pronounced his name correctly (it’s mar-TEEN) and not looked like ignorant fools with their jokes at the sight of the uniform.
