2023-08-13 11:48:00
BarcelonaPau Gasol had just turned 12 when he saw live the first Dream Team in history: the United States basketball team that participated in the Olympic Games in Barcelona. “He changed my life. He taught me how to play basketball.” He, who was then playing in the lower categories of Cornellà, was inspired by that group of extraordinary players to one day be “with the best of the best”. This Sunday, Catalan time, the Catalan pivot entered the Hall of Fame, one of the highest accolades a basketball player can have: “It’s a huge honor.”
Double NBA champion with the Lakers, Pau Gasol enters the history books in a promotion, that of 2023, in which other stars such as Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Dwyane Wade, Backy Hammon or Gregg Popovic have also been awarded. He is the first Catalan and Spanish player to be part of the Hall of Fame. “It is a testament to the support, guidance and inspiration that many of you have given me during my journey in the world of basketball,” he said, in an event presented by a European basketball legend like Toni Kukoc.
The emotion has taken over a Pau Gasol who has experienced the event surrounded by friends and family and wearing the two NBA championship rings, the pinnacle of his career in the United States. The former Catalan player had words of thanks for his family, “those who have contributed the most” to making that Marrec de Sant Boi one of the most outstanding legends of sport in our country. And, among them, a very special memory for his brother Marc, also an NBA champion and with whom, in 2015, he shared the initial jump to the All-Star, in a game played at the legendary Madison Square Garden from New York.
Pau Gasol was a trailblazer, starting with the 2021 Draft, where he was selected No. 3 by the Atlanta Hawks, becoming the highest undrafted player in the United States (he would later be surpassed by Yao Ming, Darko Milicic and Andrea Bargnani). From the Hawks he was transferred to the Memphis Grizzlies (team where his brother Marc would also play, a few years later), and that season he was chosen rookie of the year He was the first European to achieve it.
The transfer to the Lakers who caviar everything
In 2008, the transfer to the Lakers was key. “It meant a before and an after in his career,” assured the pivot, who had words of thanks for the unfortunate Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter accident. “I wish you were by my side today, I miss you a lot,” said Gasol, who praised the figure of Bryant and pointed to him as one of the most influential players in his time as a professional. Precisely, the recognition of Gasol comes five months after the Lakers retired his shirt with the number 16.
At 43 years old and already retired from basketball, Gasol adds to his two titles in the NBA the fact of having been selected to the All-Star six times. At Barça, the club where he made his professional debut and where he retired in 2021, he won three ACB leagues and a Cup. And, with the Spanish team, highlights the gold in the 2006 World Cup, the triumph in the Eurobasket in 2009, 2011 and 2015 and the three Olympic medals (silver in Beijing 2008, silver in London 2012 and bronze in Rio 2016).
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