Pau Gasol (#4) of Spain reacts after scoring in the men's basketball game against Slovenia at the Tokyo Olympics at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, August 1, 2021. /CFP
Spanish national team center and two-time NBA champion Pau Gasol is expected to announce his retirement from professional basketball at a press conference on October 5, according to Lucas Saez-Bravo of El Mundo.
Gasol has been considering the next step in his career since playing for Spain at the Tokyo Olympics in August. He joined Barcelona in February, helping the team finish second in the EuroLeague Final Four and win the ACB championship.
Pau Gasol (C) of the Memphis Grizzlies drives toward the rim in the game against the Los Angeles Lakers at FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee, U.S., December 14, 2005. /CFP
The last NBA team Gasol played for was the Milwaukee Bucks (in 2019), which marked his fifth stop in the North American league. Drafted by the Atlanta Hawks with the third overall pick in 2001 and immediately traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, Gasol averaged 17 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.6 blocks in 1,226 regular season games over 18 seasons.
Gasol's lengthy NBA career could be divided into several stages. He was one of the league's most skillful big men in his six-and-a-half seasons with the Grizzlies. As a true seven-footer, Gasol was strong enough to cover most centers in isolation and possessed the agility and wingspan to be a great rim protector. Offensively, the Spanish giant had an arsenal of post moves and could fire from mid-range. Moreover, he was a much better passer than most big men in the league at that time.
However, Gasol never led the Grizzlies past the first round in the Western Conference playoffs, partly because the team was not strong enough to do so. But many ignored that and began to call him a "soft" big man.
Pau Gasol (L) and Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers celebrate after winning the NBA Western Conference Finals at Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May 27, 2009. /CFP
The turning point of Gasol's career happened in 2008 when he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers. He and Kobe Bryant comprised the top screen-play pair in the NBA. Bryant was named the MVP. Gasol reached the NBA Finals with the Lakers. Everything seemed so perfect until the purple and gold lost 4-2 to the Boston Celtics in the Finals. Gasol was humiliated by Kevin Garnett in the series and was again described as a "soft" big man.
But Gasol was a much tougher guy than he, or his game, appeared. Not only did he help the Lakers win the following two NBA Championships, he was also named a two-time All-Star and to the All-NBA Second Team after joining the Chicago Bulls.
Pau Gasol (L) of Spain and Kobe Bryant of USA look on in the men's basketball final at the Beijing Olympics in Beijing, China, August 24, 2008. /CFP
Gasol's FIBA career was by no means inferior to his NBA career, though he and Spain lost to USA in five straight Olympic Games. But it should be pointed out that they pushed USA to the brink in their final game in 2008 in Beijing before Bryant made that killer 3+1 play.