Rafael Martínez Aguilera (born 3 March 1982), known as Rafa Martínez, is a Spanish former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player, spending most of his career in

Bàsquet Manresa Club Bàsquet Manresa S.A.D., also known as Baxi Manresa for sponsorship reasons, is a professional basketball club based in Manresa, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the Champions League. It home arena is the Pavelló Nou Congost. In ...

and

Valencia Basket Valencia Basket Club Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroCup Basketball, EuroCup, and his Valencia Basket ...

of the

Liga ACB The Liga ACB, known as Liga Endesa for sponsorship reasons, is the top professional basketball division of the Spanish basketball league system. Administered by the Asociación de Clubs de Baloncesto (ACB), Liga ACB is contested by 18 teams, w ...

. He also represented the Spain national team internationally. He played the

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

position. Martínez is currently a player development coach for

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

Professional career

Rafa Martínez started playing basketball for Basquet Manresa eventually rising from the club's junior team ranks. The team previously played in the Spanish second division LEB but was promoted to the ACB for the 1999–2000 season where on October 9, 1999, he made his professional debut in the top Spanish league against

. The following season he spent in the Basketball team

CB Vic Club Bàsquet Vic is a Spanish basketball club based in Vic, Spain, Vic, Catalonia. History The team arrived to the Spanish second league, the Liga Española de Baloncesto, LEB Oro in the 2008–09 season, but renounced to play after selling the ...

. After spending two years in the Valls Felix Hotel in LEB-2, he returned to the Basquet Manresa in 2003. In 2008, Martínez joined

. He won the EuroCup in the 2009–10. Along with that, Martínez had the highest three-point percentage in the

that season. In the 2013–14 season, he won the Eurocup for the second time. On 14 March 2017 Martínez became the all-time three-point field goals leader of the EuroCup after passing Marko Popović with 208 three-pointers. First all-time leader in scoring of

since 26 February 2019 in the match against San Pablo Burgos team, surpassing

Brad Branson Bradley Alexander Branson (born September 24, 1958) is an American retired professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and other leagues. He was a 6'10" and forward. Branson played college basketbal ...

. On July 10, 2019, Martínez signed with RETAbet Bilbao Basket of the

. On July 8, 2020, Martínez had signed with

Baxi Manresa Baxi is a manufacturer and distributor of domestic and commercial water and space heating systems, based in Warwick, England. It is a subsidiary of European group BDR Thermea. Baxi employs 6,400 people throughout Europe, with a turnover ex ...

of the

. On July 15, 2021,

announced that Martínez would play one more season for the club. Martínez retired from professional basketball at the end of the 2021-22 ACB season, having played more than 600 games in the league.

Spain national team

He has been with the Spain national team from the youth level. With the U-20 he won the silver medal at the U-20 European Basketball Championship 2002 played in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

(

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

), and won the bronze medal with the B-team at the Mediterranean Games 2005 played in

Almería Almería (, , ) is a city and municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, located in Andalusia. It is the capital of the province of Almería, province of the same name. It lies in southeastern Iberian Peninsula, Iberia on the Mediterranean S ...

(Spain). In June 2010 he was included on the list of 24 candidates for the Spain national team,Spain 2010 Pre-Selection Roster Turkey
/ref> but did not make the final 12-man roster for

2010 FIBA World Championship The 2010 FIBA World Championship was the 16th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship contested by the List of men's national basketball teams, men's national teams. The tournament ran from 28 August to 12 Septem ...

Career statistics

EuroLeague

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Professional career

Spain national team

Career statistics

EuroLeague

References

External links