■ Who had a better summer than new Raptor Juancho (Bo Cruz) Hernangómez? Maybe no one.

Many people got a pandemic puppy to help get through all those trying months of COVID-19 isolation.

Juancho Hernangómez got a pandemic acting career.

Two years ago, when no one could go anywhere and the days and weeks droned on interminably, the new Raptor was putting in time with his sister Andrea and brother Willy in Charlotte, N.C.

It was suggested that he should submit a video, on a whim, for this movie project that was being kicked around: a down-on-his-luck agent finds a young basketball phenom to groom, with the outcome a tad predictable. Hernangómez figured: why not? And from such humble and unlikely beginnings was born Bo Cruz, Hernangómez’s character in the Adam Sandler movie “Hustle” that opened to much acclaim earlier this year.

“I never expected to be in a movie or to be an actor,” Hernangómez said on Raptors media day.

“(My family was) doing nothing. They asked me for three more casting interviews. They liked me. I don’t know why — whether I have talent, or — but I kept going through the casting process. I got an interview with an acting teacher, and then I got an interview with Adam, and then two years later we have the movie. It was fun.”

The film kicked off a pretty good year for the six-foot-nine forward. The 26-year-old got a one-year guaranteed deal worth about $2.3 million (U.S.) from the Raptors in July, and spent September winning a EuroBasket gold medal with the Spanish national team, punctuated with a 27-point performance in the final against France.

“I’ve seen him a lot internationally, and he’s played for some coaching friends I have in the league,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said.

“He’s got a good sense of how to play the game, just in general. He’s got a good IQ, he understands spacing, communication, all those kinds of things. So that’s always good.”

Hernangómez fits the Raptors as a big wing shooter with defensive ability off the bench.

And after a special few months, why wouldn’t fans expect him to keep it going?

“I know he had an unbelievable summer. Who had a better summer than him?” Nurse said, before it was pointed out that Willy Hernangómez had a pretty special one, too.

“Well, he starred in a movie, first off, that was pretty darn good and everybody watched, and then he wins a gold medal. I think his brother’s got some catching up to do.”