Pau Gasol

At 43 years old, Pau Gasol has this physical status:

Pau Gasol Sáez (born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish professional basketball player.

He is a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team.

Gasol has won two NBA championships, both with the Los Angeles Lakers.

He was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2002 with the Memphis Grizzlies, and is one of only three non-American NBA players to have won that award.

He is the older brother of fellow NBA player Marc Gasol. Gasol was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the third overall pick in the first round of the 2001 NBA draft, but his rights were traded to the Memphis Grizzlies.

He currently holds the Grizzlies' franchise record for free throws made and attempted.

Following more than six seasons with Memphis, Gasol played for the Los Angeles Lakers (from 2008 to 2014), the Chicago Bulls (from 2014 to 2016), and the San Antonio Spurs (from 2016 to 2019). Internationally, Gasol has won two Olympic silver medals, an Olympic bronze medal, a FIBA World Cup title, and three EuroBasket titles with the Spanish national basketball team.

Early life

Gasol was born in Barcelona. Both of his parents played basketball in organized leagues. His father Agustí, a nurse administrator, stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m), and his mother Marisa, a medical doctor, was 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m). When Gasol was born, his family was living in Cornellà, although he was born in Barcelona, at Sant Pau Hospital, where both of his parents worked. When he was 6 years old, his family moved to a city close to Barcelona, Sant Boi de Llobregat, where he spent the remainder of his childhood. Gasol was interested in football, but loved basketball. The first sport he played was actually rugby, before switching to basketball. He is described as "a family boy and the perfect student, a tad shy, and a bit of a joker."

He originally did not want to make sports his career. On the day that Magic Johnson announced his HIV-positive status in 1991, the 11-year-old Gasol, who had heard the news in school, decided that he wanted to be a doctor and find a cure for AIDS. He enrolled in medical school at the University of Barcelona in 1998, but left after one year as his basketball career at FC Barcelona advanced.

Personal life

Gasol remains strongly interested in medicine. He regularly visits Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, a standard stop for athletes making charitable visits in the L.A. area, but does not limit his business to visiting young patients. On one visit, he asked a group of doctors well-informed questions about their treatment of children with scoliosis. In April 2010, Gasol was scheduled to sit in on a spinal surgery, wearing surgical scrubs, with Dr. David Skaggs, the hospital's chief of orthopedic surgery. Skaggs has said, "We talk to him now almost like he is a surgical colleague." Gasol canceled his original plans to observe a surgery when he came down with a low-grade fever the day before the operation, not wishing to risk infecting anyone at the hospital. He was able to reschedule his observation for June 2010, witnessing Skaggs lead a team operating on a 13-year-old girl from Colorado with scoliosis.

Gasol has a broad range of intellectual and cultural interests. He has taught himself Italian and French to go along with his childhood languages of Catalan and Spanish plus English. While with the Lakers, he and Kobe Bryant spoke to one another during games in Spanish to keep opponents from knowing their plans. Gasol also regularly reads historical novels, plays French classical music on his keyboard, and attends concerts and operas; he is a friend of Spanish tenor Plácido Domingo, and often visits him backstage after performances.

Gasol married Catherine McDonnell in July 2019. He posted a photo of his wedding on his Instagram account. The couple's daughter Elisabet Gianna Gasol was born on September 13, 2020. Elisabet's middle name is a tribute to Bryant's late daughter and Bryant's widow Vanessa is her godmother.

His younger brother Marc, who is 6 feet 11 inches (2.11 m) tall and weighs 255 pounds (116 kg), also played for the Los Angeles Lakers. Marc was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers, 48th overall, in the 2007 NBA draft and his rights were traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, as part of the deal that sent Gasol to the Lakers. Their youngest brother, Adrià, played for Lausanne's basketball team; his coach at Lausanne said, "He's built like Pau, with a mean streak like Marc", although he was not at the time considered a major basketball prospect. After returning to Spain for his final two years of high school basketball, Adrià enrolled at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in August 2012 and joined the UCLA basketball team as a walk on.

His parents moved to the Memphis suburb of Germantown, Tennessee, after he signed with the Grizzlies, and enrolled his younger brothers Marc and Adrià in Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis. They planned to move to the Los Angeles area when Pau was traded to the Lakers, with Agustí accepting a job with a health-care company in that area; although the Grizzlies obtained the rights to Marc's services as part of the trade, he was expected to re-sign with his Spanish team Akasvayu Girona. However, when Marc decided to sign with the Grizzlies, their parents chose to stay in Germantown. Agustí now works from home for the same company, while Marisa now volunteers at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

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Professional career

Gasol played basketball for Llorand, his school team, before being recruited to Cornellà. He began playing for FC Barcelona's junior team when he was sixteen years old. He won both the 1998 Albert Schweitzer Tournament and the 1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship for Spain's national under-18 team. Gasol made his debut with FC Barcelona's senior team on January 17, 1999, only 25 minutes in the Spanish ACB's 1998-99 season, with an average of 13.7 minutes per game in the ACB. Gasol's averaged 12.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in 24.7 minutes per game in his last season in the ACB. FC Barcelona was victorious in the Spanish National Cup's 2001 Final's championship game, and Gasol was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament. Gasol was third overall in the first round of the 2001 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks, who gave his draft rights to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Shareef Abdur-Rahim.

Gasol made history by winning the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in his first season with the Grizzlies and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. He averaged 17.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, and was the only team member to play in all 82 games this season. In his second year with the Grizzlies, Gasol led the team in scoring (19.0 points per game) and played in all 82 games. Gasol missed his first game of his career during his third year with a foot injury on April 5, 2004, snapping his streak of 240 consecutive games played. On November 12, 2003, he posted his 1,500th career victory against the Orlando Magicians, while the Boston Celtics scored his 3,000th career goal on October 31, 2003. Despite scoring 22 points in Game 4 against the San Antonio Spurs, the highest by a Memphis player in the playoffs, his team was eliminated in the first round after not winning a single game against San Antonio. This was both the Grizzlies and Gasol's first trips to the NBA Playoffs. On January 11, 2005, he scored 31 points and blocked four shots against the Indiana Pacers, his fifth fastest player to reach 5,000 points/500 blocks since 1973–74. He also helped his team make it to the playoffs for the second time in his career, but the Phoenix Suns were disqualified in the first round and didn't win a single game against the Phoenix Suns.

He became the franchise's all-time leading rebounder in his fifth year with the Grizzlies on March 24, winning his 3,072nd rebound in a Grizzlies uniform. He made 29 free throw attempts from January 24 to 28, tying the second best time in Grizzlies history, with two straight games going 12-12 from the line tying the best single-game record in franchise history. For the third time in Gasol and his team's history, they returned to the playoffs. They were eliminated in the first round once more and did not win a single game against the Dallas Mavericks.

Gasol was selected to play in the 2006 NBA All-Star Game in Houston, Texas, as a reserve center for the Western Conference on February 9, 2006. He was one of four Western Conference forwards ranked No. 1 in terms of points, rebounds, assists, and blocked shots at the time. He was both the first Spanish basketball player and the first Grizzlies player to make it to the All-Star Game.

Gasol missed the first 23 games of the 2006–07 NBA season due to a broken foot sustained near the end of Spain's semifinal victory over Argentina over the 2006 FIBA World Championship. He will continue to be named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, which Spain won. On January 29, he scored a season-high 34 points (most by a Grizzly this season), eight rebounds and tied a franchise record, and tied for the franchise's all-time leader in free throw attempts against the Dallas Mavericks, with eight blocks. He made the all-time franchise leader in field goals against the Houston Rockets on February 6, and became the all-time franchise champion in minutes played at Dallas on February 7. On March 7, 2007, the Grizzlies' all-time leading scorer defeated Shareef Abdur-Rahim (7,801 points at the time) despite his 77 points. Gasol's second double-double against the Utah Jazz on January 24, 2007, netting 17 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists. He also registered 2 blocks and one steal.

Memphis released Gasol, alongside a 2010 second round draft pick for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, and Pau's younger brother, Jacob McKie, on February 1, 2008 and 2010 first round draft picks. The trade has caused controversies. In an ESPN story, Chris Wallace denied that he had been asked by owner Michael Heisley to make the Grizzlies more appealing to a prospective purchaser. "No one put pressure on me to do this," Wallace said, and Michael Heisley has actually been reluctant to leave Pau." He also said that they had been "trolling" the waters for a while and that they had worked with a variety of teams. "It't get any better than this," he said about the Lakers' contract. Gasol left the Grizzlies with twelve franchise records, including games played, minutes played, field goals made, free throws made and attempted, offensive, defensive, and total rebounds. He leads Memphis in defensive and total rebounds, as well as blocked shots, according to game statistics.

Gasol lived in Redondo Beach, across the street from the shoreline, after being traded to the Lakers. In a 105-90 victory over the Nets on February 5, Gasol made his first Lakers appearance in a game against the New Jersey Nets, in which he scored 24 points and had 12 rebounds. In a game against the New Orleans Hornets on March 14, Gasol strained his ankle, stepping on the foot of teammate Vladimir Radmanovia in the first quarter. Since x-rays came up negative, Gasol was supposed to miss the remaining three games of the Lakers' road trip. Gasol returned to the starting lineup against the Portland Trail Blazers on April 2nd and played nearly thirty-two minutes, delivering ten points, six rebounds, and seven assists. With the swelling in his ankle that was still present, he confessed to feeling uncomfortable. Gasol played for the Lakers in the Western Conference during the regular season (57–25), with him in the starting lineup. Kobe Bryant has also stated that playing with Gasol clicked from the start.

He had 36 points, 16 rebounds, 8 assists, and 3 blocked shots in the Lakers' opening game of the playoffs. It was Gasol's first trip to the second round in four tries when the Lakers defeated the Denver Nuggets in the first round. For the second year in a row, his old team, the Grizzlies, failed to qualify for the playoffs. In Game 6 against the Utah Jazz, he scored 17 points and 13 rebounds to help the Lakers advance to the conference finals. In a series-clinching victory over the San Antonio Spurs on May 31, he posted a career-high 19 rebounds, making him the first Spaniard to reach the NBA Finals. Gasol's average was 14.7 points per game on.532 shooting in the 2008 Finals against the Boston Celtics, below his scoring average of 18.9 during the regular season. However, the Lakers were rebounds with 10.2 per game throughout the championship series, up from his regular-season average of 8.4. In the Finals, Los Angeles lost by 131–92, with a 131–92 loss in Game 6. Gasol was the second leading Laker in points (16.9), rebounds (9.3), and assists per game (4.0). He led in blocks per game (1.90) and was tied for the most double-doubles (10) with Lamar Odom.

Gasol scored his 10,000th career point against the Utah Jazz on January 2, 2009. Gasol made his second All-Star appearance for the Western Conference squad during the 2008–09 NBA season, his first as a Laker. After leading the Lakers to an 11–2 record in February that included road victories over Boston and Cleveland, he was also named Western Conference Player of the Month. He had averages of 18.9 points, 9.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1 block per game during the regular season. When the Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic in the 2009 Finals, Gasol earned his first NBA championship ring.

Gasol signed a three-year contract with the Lakers worth $64.7 million on December 24, 2009. Gasol made his third All-Star appearance as a reserve for the Western Conference, winning 18.3 points, 11.3 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.7 blocks during the regular season. Gasol grabbed 18 rebounds and his last-second putback eliminated the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 6 of the first round. He averaged 23.5 points and 14.5 rebounds in the conference semifinals against the Utah Jazz, and then in the conference finals against the Phoenix Suns, he averaged 19.7 points with 7.2 rebounds. Gasol scored 19 points against the Boston Celtics in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, where he had 18 rebounds and two blocks as the Lakers returned as champions. Sporting News selected him as the 15th best celebrity in sports in 2010.

As the Lakers' coach Phil Jackson asked Houston to be more assertive, while Bryant recovered from offseason knee surgery, Gasol started the season's first week with a landslide of 25.3 percent shooting, 10.3 rebounds, and five assists per game. He was named Western Conference Player of the Week this week. His third straight All-Star pick and his season averages of 19 points and ten rebounds were almost identical to those he had seen as a Laker the previous three seasons. For the first time in his career, Pau's play earned him All-NBA second team awards. Gasol only averaged 13 points on 42% shooting in ten games, and the Lakers were swept by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round, with the Dallas Mavericks sweeping the Lakers. Gasol had his worst post-season appearance of his career. Magic Johnson, a ESPN analyst, cited Gasol as a potential trade option for the Lakers to buy Magic center Dwight Howard. Gasol dismissed the inaccurate reports relating to his wife's marriage as the cause of his poor results, and has accepted criticism of his play as valid.

Gasol and teammate Lamar Odom were exposed to trade rumors involving former New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul during the 2011–12 NBA season. After the trade fell through, Gasol vowed that it would not have a direct influence on the way he played. On the other hand, Odom was dissatisfied with the Laker organization and was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 2010 for a future first round pick. Gasol joined Bryant as co-captains of the team after Lakers co-capt. Derek Fisher was traded in March 2012. He received the 2011-2012 NBA Community Assist Award.

The Lakers' head coach Mike Brown was fired by Mike D'Antoni after an 1–4 start to the 2012–13 season. Gasol was losing after seven games under D'Antoni, averaging 10.1 points and 8.0 rebounds while shooting 38.8 percent, and he was suspended in the fourth quarter in several games. Gasol was unable to be involved in D'Antoni's offense, which had never had post players playing forward. Gasol finished at 27th in the league in post-up points with 2.7 per game, down from previous seasons when he was fifth in 2010–11 and ninth in 2011–12. Gasol scored his 15,000th career point against the Houston Rockets on November 18, 2012. Gasol sat out eight games in December after being bothered by tendinitis in both knees since training camp before returning to the starting lineup. Later, he was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis but he kept playing. According to Lakers season-ticket holders, the team needed Gasol to be more involved. In the fourth quarter of a 112-105 loss, Gasol was dealt a blow to the face by Denver's JaVale McGee. He sustained a concussion, causing him to miss the next five games. After starting his first 345 games with the Lakers, he came off the bench in his first game back. He returned to the starting lineup and scored 25 points against Toronto, his second 20-point game of the season. However, D'Antoni changed Gasol to a reserve role and began Earl Clark in the upcoming game on January 21, which was a departure from the coach's view of permanentity. Gasol tore the plantar fascia of his right foot against the Brooklyn Nets on February 5th. Gasol had modified the fascia in the first half, but he didn't recover until he felt it pop when he attempted to stop a shot by Brook Lopez toward the end of the game. He returned over six weeks later on March 22 after missing 20 games, with D'Antoni returning him to the starting lineup over Clark. Gasol's play was solid, and Bryant insisted that Gasol have the ball in the post after a two-game adjustment period, and Bryant demanded that Gasol receive the ball in the post. D'Antoni said Gasol had been playing well since January and praised the forward's early setbacks to injuries and the team's evolving offensive system. "I have a lot more confidence in him now, and he's doing great," D'Antoni said. He finished the season with career lows in points (13.7) and field-goal percentage (.466), as well as his rebounds (8.6), his lowest level since his first season with Los Angeles. He was limited to 49 games in a career-low. In his last seven games, including the playoffs, he had three triple-doubles.

In the final year of his deal, Gasol owed $19.3 million in 2013–2014, which cost the Lakers $50 million in luxury taxes. He became a free agent early in the season.

Gasol signed with the Chicago Bulls on July 18, 2014. "It was a gut feeling" after he was introduced: I thought Chicago would be the right match for me. It's a huge challenge, but it's motivated by challenge. I'm looking forward to it."

In the 106-101 victory over the Denver Nuggets on January 1, 2015, Gasol had a career-high 9 blocks, as well as 17 points and 9 rebounds. In a 95-87 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks, he scored a career-high 46 points on 17-of-30 shooting in a career-high win. In an 89-78 victory over the Miami Heat, he recorded a season-best 51st double-double of the season with 16 points and 15 rebounds. In the regular season finale against the Atlanta Hawks on April 15, he recorded his 54th double-double of the season to finish as the league's top double-double in 2014–15.

Gasol became the 116th player to play 1,000 games in a regular season on December 5, 2015. For his ninth double-double of the season, he had 13 points and 11 rebounds against the Charlotte Hornets. He made his first quarter double-double with 13 points and ten rebounds on January 25, 2016. The Bulls were defeated by the Miami Heat 89-84, with 19 points and 17 rebounds throughout the game. On February 9, Gasol was named as Jimmy Butler's replacement on the 2016 Eastern Conference All-Star team. In a 103-95 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers, he scored his eighth triple-double and first as a Bull, with 22 points, 16 rebounds, and a career-high 14 assists. At 35 years old, he became the first player to record a triple-double since Kobe Bryant did so at 36 years old in 2014. Jason Kidd, Kobe Bryant, and Paul Pierce all had their second triple-double of the season on March 7, defeating the Milwaukee Bucks in 100–90, becoming just the fourth player to reach double-doubles in a season. He was the 38th NBA player to reach 10,000 career rebounds on April 2nd, defeating the Detroit Pistons. He also ranked 36th in the points and 10,000 rebounds category.

Gasol signed with the San Antonio Spurs on July 14, 2016. In a 96-86 victory over the Detroit Pistons on November 11, 2016, he had season bests with 21 points and six assists. After breaking his left ring finger during pregame warmups earlier this night, he was ruled out indefinitely on January 19, 2017. The following day, he underwent surgery to fix a fracture in his left fourth metacarpal. Gasol had 17 points and 11 rebounds off the bench in his return from a 15-game absence due to the finger injury on February 24, 2017. In a 101-97 regular-season finale loss to the Utah Jazz on April 12, 2017, Gasol scored 13 points to reach 20,000 career points, becoming the second European player to reach the top after Dirk Nowitzki.

Gasol re-signed with the Spurs on July 24, 2017. In a 93–91 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on December 20, 2017, he had 20 points and a season-high 17 rebounds. In a 108-99 victory over the Sacramento Kings on December 23, 2017, he recorded his 10th triple-double, with 14 points, 11 rebounds, and a season-high 10 assists. Gasol won by 109-97 over the Brooklyn Nets on December 26, 2017, his 10,817th return, beating Jack Sikma for his 30th in league history. Gasol was the 34th NBA player to play 40,000 minutes in a 97–78 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers on January 26, 2018. In a 106-103 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on March 25, 2018, he had 22 points on 10-of-15 shooting and 13 rebounds.

Gasol missed the next 26 games due to a stress fracture in his right foot while playing in the first nine games of the 2018-19 season. He was released by the Spurs in a buyout deal on March 1, 2019.

Gasol signed with the Milwaukee Bucks on March 3, 2019. He appeared in three games for the Bucks. On March 23, it was announced that the Bucks had expected Gasol to miss the next month due to a left ankle injury. Gasol's season was ended due to his injury. On May 9, 2019, he was unable to participate in the playoffs and underwent surgery on his injured foot.

Gasol signed with the Portland Trail Blazers on July 25, 2019. He was suspended by the Trail Blazers on November 20 because he had not appeared in a game for the team.

Gasol returned to Spain on February 23, 2021, to play in Liga ACB club FC Barcelona. He won the 2020-20 ACB championship with Barcelona and helped the team progress to the final of the EuroLeague, where they lost to Anadolu Efes.

Gasol announced his retirement from professional basketball on October 5, 2021.

National team career

After winning the 1998 FIBA Under-18 Championship and 1999 FIBA Under-19 World Championship with Gasol's junior team, this was his first participation with the Spanish national basketball team. Gasol, the team's captain, was awarded the bronze medal in the competition despite being considered against his own initiative. Gasol has enjoyed a lot with the Spanish team, winning the 2006 FIBA World Championship and the 2009 and 2011 EuroBasket tournaments, as well as the 2010 and 2012 Olympic Games. Gasol was also the top-scoring performer of the 2004 Summer Olympics, as well as Spain's flag bearer at the 2012 Summer Olympics' opening ceremony, replacing the injured Rafael Nadal. Gasol was named in 2014 to the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup's All-Tournament team. Gasol was crowned the MVP of the 2015 EuroBasket after an incredible showing, scoring 25.6 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, and fourth in rebounds per game). Gasol inspired the Spanish team, which was missing many key players, including Ricky Rubio, Juan Carlos Navarro, lex Abrines, and his brother Marc Gasol, during the knockout matches of the tournament. Gasol scored 40 points in the semifinal against France, which was half of his team's points. The 35-year-old player was also voted the top shooter in the competition for blocked shots per game (2.3). Gasol led the FIBA EuroBasket's all-time leading scorer in a game against Hungary on September 7, 2017, defeating Tony Parker with 1,033 points. At the EuroBasket, he had scored 1,183 points out of total points.

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