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On Wednesday, Andersson Garcia signed a 10-day contract with the Utah Jazz. A few hours later, he played in his first NBA game, and left the Delta Center with the game ball, despite the fact the Jazz lost to the New York Knicks.
“He really played hard — guards, rebounds, digs out loose balls," Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “I was really proud of the way that he played. ... Obviously he’s been in the building the last day and a half, and I’ve spent five minutes with him, probably, but the great part is, his strengths are very simple, repeatable things. I thought he played really hard tonight.”
A scan of the box score wouldn’t tell the whole story of Garcia’s performance and doesn’t describe the force with which he defended or the multiple times he tapped out loose balls for extra offensive possessions for the Jazz.
And the box score certainly wouldn’t describe the shock for Garcia when he got called up a couple of days prior while competing with the G League’s Mexico City Capitanes.
“I’m super grateful, but at the same time, I was really surprised,” Garcia said. “I wasn’t expecting to be here right now ... coming from the Dominican Republic, it’s a small island where not a lot of basketball players can be here.”
Garcia went undrafted last year after playing at Texas A&M and previously at Mississippi State. He didn’t have any pre-draft workouts with NBA teams before joining the G League Capitanes after getting Rookie of the Year honors in Liga Nacional de Baloncesto, the top league in the Dominican Republic.
On Wednesday he didn’t have a Wikipedia page dedicated to him (though he does now), and there is no photo of Garcia on his Basketball Reference page.
When he got the call that he’d be joining the Jazz on a 10-day deal, he tried to call friends and family but struggled to get hold of anyone back home. Eventually, he was able to talk to them and the response was electric.
“They was crying and I think they’re still crying right now,” Garcia said. “Back home, I have a little video, a little message for the future, saying that I want to be somebody in the future, that I want to be remembered in my city and my country, and today, being able to be here, it’s like a party, like a parade in my city right now.”
In 35 games with the Capitanes, Garcia averaged 10.9 points on 55.6% shooting overall to go with 9.8 rebounds. He’s recorded 12 double-doubles, including two games with 20-plus rebounds, and three contests with 20 or more points.
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- March 13 | 8 p.m. MDT | Utah Jazz @ Portland Trail Blazers | KJZZ
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