Juan Mendez (basketball)
Juan Méndez (born September 23, 1981) is a Canadian former professional basketball player and current coach. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, to Dominican parents, and played high school basketball at Florida Air Academy in Melbourne, Florida. He starred at Niagara University from 2001 to 2005, scoring over 1,500 career points and earning MAAC Player of the Year honors in 2005. He is the highest-scoring Canadian in NCAA Division I history and was inducted into the MAAC Naismith Hall of Fame in 2014 as the first Canadian honoree.
Undrafted in 2005, Méndez played professionally overseas from 2005 to 2013 for teams in Italy, Greece, Israel, China, Ukraine and Canada, including Pallacanestro Trapani, Panellinios, Ironi Nahariya, Maccabi Rishon LeZion, Xinjiang Flying Tigers, BC Dnipro, Cocolos, Montreal Jazz and GUG. He also represented Canada internationally, playing with the national team from 2003 to 2008. He appeared in the NBA Summer League in 2003, averaging 11.4 points per game in five games, and competed in the 2003 Pan American Games as well as the Americas Championship in 2005 and 2007—averaging 16.5 points and 8.5 rebounds per game in 2005, and 8.9 points and 4.1 rebounds per game in 2007.
Since 2015, Méndez has worked as a basketball coach.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 19:59 (CET).