(CNN) -- It's the dream of millions of basketball fans around the world -- to be an NBA star. 

But for Rudy Fernandez, who leapt to fame with his "hellacious" dunk in an Olympic final against the U.S. Dream Team, playing in "the best league in the world" was not enough. 

Just 27 years old and reaching his peak as a player, he has bucked convention by leaving the NBA and returning to his native Spain. 

"Here probably I'm a better player, I can do everything -- not like my years in the NBA," Fernandez told CNN's Human to Hero series. 

"The NBA, it's a business for sure, so when you sign a contract you have to know you might get traded to another team, another city. And you start playing 82 games in one season, it's a lot of basketball." 

Fernandez moved to the U.S. after the 2008 Olympic final in Beijing, where Spain lost to the Americans, and spent three years with the Portland Trail Blazers. 

"They gave me the opportunity to play in the best league in the world," he said. 

However, his later move to Denver Nuggets was not a success -- partly due to a back injury, and partly due to a league lockout that shortened the 2011-12 season to 31 matches. 

In the middle of the NBA pay dispute, he signed an interim deal with Real Madrid -- a division of one of the world's biggest soccer clubs -- and enjoyed his time back home so much that he later took up the option of a three-year deal worth a reported â‚¬8.1 million ($10.5 million). 
How old is he?
27 years old