Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr.
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Many couples have a charming story that they’re more than happy to share when someone asks them how they met. However, I don’t think that’s the word to describe the experience that Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. had after crossing paths with his future girlfriend on the night he was selected in the NBA Draft.
The vast majority of people who grow up playing basketball will never be lucky enough to hear their name called during the NBA Draft, and that experience is a truly momentous occasion for the players who spent years grinding to get to the biggest moment of their lives.
It’s only natural that the guys who get selected will decide to celebrate, and more than a few of them will take advantage of the many, many places in New York City where pro athletes in their early 20s with some money to burn can let loose.
That was the route that Jaime Jaquez Jr. opted to take after the Heat selected him with the 18th overall pick in 2023, and while the UCLA standout did end up meeting his future girlfriend at the club he descended upon, it’s safe to say their initial encounter could have gone a bit smoother.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. had to wait a few months to start dating the girlfriend he met on the night of the NBA Draft after he ended up hugging a hotel toilet
Dominique Ruotolo and Jaime Jaquez Jr.
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Jaquez recently wrapped up his second season with the Heat, and the forward has emerged as a solid contributor off the bench since taking his talents to Miami.
Based on what the city has to offer, I can only hope he’s improved his ability to hang while hitting the town since he did the same after being drafted, as the 24-year-old admitted he went a bit too hard while recounting his first encounter with his current girlfriend, Dominique Ruotolo, more than two years ago during an appearance on the Straight to Cam podcast.
Jaquez recapped what transpired on that fateful evening, saying he “literally bumped” into Ruotolo while “having the time of his life” at a club before inviting her to grab some pizza with him only to see things take a turn for the worse thanks to his decision to only drink “straight tequila,” saying:
“As soon as I got in the Uber and the loud music and the lights stopped going, I realized I can’t get a pizza, I need to go home. She was like, ‘What do you mean?’ I was like, ‘I am not okay. Please take me home…’
She ends up taking me to my hotel. She takes me up to my room. My brother’s asleep. He’s like, ‘What is going on?’ I make a beeline straight to the bathroom, and you guys can put the story together from there. I ended up dying.
She’s like, ‘What the hell?’ Then our boy Justin comes into the room. He’s like, ‘What is going on? What’s happening?’ He just sees me in the bathroom. I’m lying on the floor. It was a good night. I had a great time. But that’s how we ended up the first time we met.
Justin ended up getting her number. She’s like, ‘I got to leave. I don’t know who this guy is. Thanks but no thanks.”
Jaquez said he texted her to apologize the following morning and eventually invited her and some friends to join him and his crew out in Los Angeles a few months later before they kicked off the relationship they hard-launched by appearing together at the Heat Gala at the start of 2024.
Who is Dominique Ruotolo?
It turns out the meeting in NYC was fairly serendipitous, as Ruotolo was also a college athlete who went to school in Los Angeles; the Newport Beach competed in the triple jump as a member of the track-and-field team at USC while capping off a college career she began at Oregon.
She made her debut as a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model earlier this year and is currently signed with a talent agency based in Miami.
You’ve got to love a story with a happy ending.