Lucas Sáez-Bravo
Updated Wednesday, January 31, 2024-18:21
Interview Marc Gasol
Two days after turning 39 and after a few months of uncertainty and doubts about his sporting future,
Marc Gasol
has put an end to his legendary career. His last dance, combining the presidency that he still holds and the court, came last year at Básquet Girona. After 13 seasons in the NBA in which he won the ring with the Raptors in 2019 and a record that includes two World Cups with Spain, among many other achievements, the middle of the Gasol saga announced this Wednesday his definitive retirement. "It is time to teach everything I have learned," he said.
Marc's career includes unexpected heights, since his beginnings, always in the shadow of his brother
Pau
and enduring constant comparisons, were not so easy. After studying and playing at High School in Memphis, the center enrolled in the Barça youth academy, where he debuted in ACB. Although his disagreements with
Dusko Ivanovic
made him head to Girona, where his first outburst occurred in that glittering Akasvayu. He was MVP of the League in the 2007/2008 season, the year before he jumped to the NBA, precisely to the Grizzlies where Pau had marked an era.
To know more
Basketball.
This is how Ricky Rubio's return came about from a "very dark place": family, golf and 'nankurunaisa'
Editor: LUCAS SÁEZ-BRAVO
This is how Ricky Rubio's return came about from a "very dark place": family, golf and 'nankurunaisa'
Although if there is an episode that marked Marc's professional dawn, it was the 2006 World Cup, when he was called urgently by
Pepu Hernández due to the loss of Fran Vázquez
, ahead of
Hernández-Sonseca and Jordi Trias
. "He had some little problem with being overweight that he solved immediately. His classmates laughed at him because, while they were going blind, Marc would go to the buffet and grab a little lettuce and tomato. He made a tremendous effort to stay and won it. Then look at the work he did for us and I think it was the turning point of his career. Being on the national team and winning the world title completely changed his perception of basketball. He was almost on the verge of throwing in the towel and he became a player historic," the coach confessed in a recent interview with this newspaper, remembering the final against Greece in which Marc was decisive against
Schortsanitis
, with Pau injured.
With Spain, Marc played 191 games (there are only seven players with more), winning up to nine medals. In 2021, in that Saitama that left him so many indelible memories, he put an end to his stage during the Tokyo Games. Two years earlier he had achieved one of his greatest feats, the World Cup in China, leading the
Scariolo team alongside Ricky Rubio
. He also boasts two continental gold medals (2009 and 2011) and two Olympic silver medals in London and Beijing.
In the NBA, Marc soon became a leading player. He was an absolute benchmark in his 11 seasons with the Grizzlies, whom he led to the playoffs six times. In 2013 he was named defender of the year. He played three All Stars, including 2015 (that year he was part of the NBA's ideal quintet), in which he starred in the historic Staples opening jump with Pau. And in 2019, months before world gold, he reached the ring with the Raptors. His last jersey was that of the Lakers in the 2020/2021 season. In total, he played almost 1,000 games.
After his NBA stage, Marc immersed himself fully in his project in Girona, a club he revived in 2014 from the foundations of the Escola Básquet Marc Gasol (three years later the senior team started in EBA). And he was going to do it not only from the presidency. In December 2021, with the club in LEB Oro, he decided to reject offers from the best league in the world and the Euroleague to seek a promotion that he would achieve months later. Last year, the center from Sant Boi played 30 games in ACB for the club's permanence. He averaged 10.5 points and 5.7 rebounds. The last official match of his career, with his eternal 33 on his back, was played in Fontajau on May 24 against Baskonia.