Pau Gasol Sáez (, ; born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish former professional basketball player. 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, both with the Los Angeles Lakers back-to-back in 2009 and 2010. He was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2002 with the Memphis Grizzlies, being the first non-American player to have won that award. He is regarded as one of the greatest power forwards of all time and is also considered as one of the greatest European players of all time. He is the older brother of former 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 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), the Chicago Bulls (2014–2016), the San Antonio Spurs (2016–2019), and the 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 MVP of 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.
Early life
Gasol was born in Barcelona. Both of his parents played basketball in organized leagues. His father Agustí, a nurse administrator, stood , and his mother Marisa, a medical doctor, was . 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.
Professional career
Barcelona (1998–2001) 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.
Memphis Grizzlies (2001–2008)