The 41-year-old player has one of the most beautiful winners in the history of European basketball, including two Olympic silver medals, three European titles and a remarkable course in the NBA Championship.
Le Monde with AFP
“You have to know how to turn the page,” said Pau Gasol. Spanish, one of the most beautiful palmares in the history of European basketball, Tuesday, 5 October, announced to Barcelona that it was 41 years old at its professional career.
At a farewell ceremony organized at the Liceu Theater in Barcelona, surrounded by his family and loved ones, he explained:
“I am here to communicate that I will retire professional basketball. It’s a difficult decision after so many years, as you can imagine. But it’s a thoughtful decision.” / p>
“I wanted to finish playing and taking advantage, and not in crutches and between several operations,” said Gasol, a victim of a serious fracture of one foot in 2019 that had almost stopped his career.
Two Olympic silver medals, three European titles
The elder of the Gasol brothers has led Spain to a world’s coronation, two Olympic silver medals, three European titles, and made a remarkable course in the NBA championship, which he won twice ( In 2009 and 2010) with the Los Angeles Lakers Kobe Bryant.
Leader of the Spanish Generation of the “Ninos de Oro” (Golden Children), which included Juan Carlos Navarro, his brother Marc or Rudy Fernandez, Pau Gasol made Spain the European Basket Nation since the Beginning of the XXI e century.
The Catalan giant (2.16 m) is one of the largest European history basketball farms, alongside legends like Dirk Nowitzki, Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc or his best French enemy Tony Parker.
Pau Gasol has almost won: in Spain under the colors of FC Barcelona, then in NBA, and even internationally, where he taught US invincible at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and 2012 in London … without ever succeeding in gleaning gold. Its last attempt this summer in Tokyo, resulted in a failure, Spain having been eliminated in shifts by the United States (95-81).
It is to win a coroligated coroligue, the only club title that is missing from his tracks, that Pau Gasol had returned to FC Barcelona, in his heart club, in 2021, after scutting without success several NBA teams , including San Antonio and Milwaukee. But, with the return of a gasol on the decline, Barça failed to win the European Basketball competition.