More than a year has passed since the last time Pau Gasol played basketball. The Catalan center is still battling the fracture in his left foot that he suffered in March 2019. In December, after a relapse, he underwent cell treatment to improve his recovery options, but the prospect was to appear in Tokyo 2020 after 16 months without competing.

The relapse endangered the dream goodbye: returning to the national team three years later to say goodbye playing their fifth Olympic Games. Gasol had not confirmed anything but it had a circle-closing scent. The postponement to 2021 works in his favor, but at 41 years old and with such a complicated injury, the way to there is unknown.

Calvary has lengthened since the end of 2018 he was stopped for two months due to bone edema in the scaphoid of his left foot. Gasol played again and even went to Milwaukee, a contender for the ring, but the inconvenience was still there, so in March of last year he put the brakes on. The first option was conservative, rest and not rule out for the playoffs, but in May he had to undergo surgery: he had a broken bone.

Scaphoid bone fracture has a complicated history, especially in centers. It is the same one that ended the career of Yao Ming , that dynamited that of Bill Walton or that had Joel Embiid two years blank. Of course, it is also the one suffered by his brother Marc in 2016 - in his case, type II fracture without displacement. He missed the Rio Games, it took him eight months to return and more than a year to fully recover, but he has been capital in the Toronto Raptors ring and the second World Cup for the team.

Pau Gasol had little chance of reaching Tokyo 2020. In November, he suffered a second fracture of the navicular bone, and although the cell treatment is working, he is hardly putting all his weight back on his foot. If everything had run its course, the NBA regular season would have ended next week and Pau would have made it to the Olympics after 16 months without playing an official game.

NBA, the priority; Barça, an 'option'

The postponement of the Olympic Games gives him a year of margin to rush his return, although he will arrive at 41 years old. "I'm going to try. The first thing is to focus on what I can control, which is my rehabilitation and strengthen my foot. Then we'll see if I can or not," he explained in an interview in an Instagram live on the official NBA account.

Recover first. Then find equipment. And there the priorities have not changed. "I have always said that the longer I play in the NBA, the more difficult it will be to return to Spain. Marc did say that he would like to play a year in Girona again. We will see. I want to continue playing in the best league and against the best players, "he confessed.

After this injury, Pau Gasol's NBA poster could be similar to that of José Manuel Calderón in recent years: a veteran voice in the dressing room and insurance as the fourth or fifth pivot of the rotation. Barça's option, for now, sounds a respectful 'no'.

During these months Pau Gasol has admitted that withdrawal was a possibility, but his determination is to rush all options to return. First, to say goodbye to basketball on your own terms. And then to find a way to Tokyo.

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