Pau Gasol

Spanish power forward who won two NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers and is regarded as one of the greatest European players of all time.

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Pau Gasol Sáez (born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 18 seasons, primarily as a power forward. He was a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. Gasol won two NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009 and 2010. He was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2002 with the Memphis Grizzlies, the first non-American to win that award. He is regarded as one of the greatest power forwards of all time and one of the greatest European players of all time. He is the older brother of former NBA player Marc Gasol.

Quick Facts

Born: 6 July 1980
Birthplace: Barcelona, Spain
League: Liga ACB
Team: Bàsquet Girona
Position: Vice-president
Draft round: 1
Draft pick: 3
Drafted by: Atlanta Hawks

Lore & Background

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 Vancouver Grizzlies. He 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 (2008–2014), Chicago Bulls (2014–2016), San Antonio Spurs (2016–2019), and Milwaukee Bucks (2019). Internationally, Gasol has won a FIBA World Cup title, three EuroBasket titles, two Olympic silver medals, and an Olympic bronze medal with the Spanish national basketball team.

Gasol was named MVP of the 2006 FIBA World Cup and the 2009 and 2015 FIBA EuroBasket. Pau Gasol shares (with Krešimir Ćosić) the record for most EuroBasket MVP awards, with two each. Gasol is also the all-time leading scorer in the EuroBasket. In 2021, he became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In 2023, it was announced that Gasol would be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Reader's Guide

Gasol began playing basketball as a center with his school team, Llor, and eventually signed with Cornellà. When he was sixteen, he began playing for FC Barcelona's junior team. With Spain's national under-18 team, he won both the 1998 Albert Schweitzer Tournament and the 1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. Gasol made his debut on January 17, 1999, with the senior team of FC Barcelona and played just 25 total minutes in the Spanish ACB League's 1998–99 season, and averaged 13.7 minutes per game in the ACB the next year.

However, in his final season in the ACB, Gasol averaged 12.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in 24.7 minutes per game. FC Barcelona was victorious in the Spanish National Cup's 2001 Final's championship game, and Gasol was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. After entering the NBA draft, Gasol was selected third overall in the first round of the 2001 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks, who traded his draft rights to the Vancouver Grizzlies in exchange for Shareef Abdur-Rahim and the Grizzlies' 27th pick in the draft Jamaal Tinsley.

In his first season with the Grizzlies, Gasol became the first foreign player to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. He averaged 17.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, and was also the only team member to play in all 82 games that season. Gasol led the team in scoring (19.0 points per game) in his second year with the Grizzlies, and for the second year in a row, played in all 82 games. Gasol missed the first game of his career, during his third year, with a foot injury on April 5, 2004, which snapped his string of 240 consecutive games played.

He grabbed the 1,500th rebound of his career on November 12, 2003, against the Orlando Magic and scored his 3,000th career point on October 31, 2003, against the Boston Celtics. Despite having 22 points in Game 4 against the San Antonio Spurs, the highest by a Memphis players in the playoffs, his team was eliminated in the first round, not winning a single game against San Antonio. This was both the Grizzlies and Gasol's first trip to the NBA Playoffs.

Following the season, Gasol signed a six-year, $86.5 million extension that began in the 2005–06 season and last through the 2011–12 season.