Basketball is truly an international game now and the recent FIBA EuroBasket 2025 tournament saw some of the best players from around the world go to battle. Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Doncic was arguably the best player in the entire tournament and he is far from the first franchise great to dominate in international play as Hall of Famer Pau Gasol is one of the best European players ever and had a ton of success representing his native Spain.
That pride in representing your country is something that all international players seem to share. While American players take pride and recognize the honor in playing for your country, it’s just different when it comes to international players. Doncic admitted to being angry at not leading Slovenia to a medal at EuroBasket despite being massive underdogs while Giannis Antetokounmpo called Greece’s bronze medal the greatest accomplishment of his career despite him winning an NBA Championship.
While some view the NBA as the pinnacle of all basketball, those international tournaments can mean so much more to foreign players and Gasol understands that. In an appearance on NBA Today, the Lakers legend admitted that there is just something special about representing your country and fully understands Giannis’ mindset:
“I love his emotion, I love how much he loves his country. The pride in it. The dedication, commitment he has to his national team. It’s something special to play for your country. Something special to represent your country, your people, your fans everywhere and anywhere you go, but especially when you play for your national team. To me, I always took a lot of pride in playing for Spain. A lot of people said that my game, there was a different Pau playing for Spain than he was for the NBA. I don’t know, I think there was definitely an added thing to it. There was definitely something a little extra edge. When I played for Spain there was a unique feeling that I would bring to the equation. Not that I didn’t love playing for every and each of the NBA teams that I played for, but playing for your country it’s just something that it’s hard to compare.”
Like Giannis, Gasol is an NBA Champion, winning back-to-back rings with the Lakers in 2009 and 2010. But he always took pride in representing his country when he had the chance, leading Spain to three EuroBasket Gold medals and the 2006 FIBA World Cup Championship as well as two Olympic Silver medals. And despite his success in the NBA, even Gasol had to admit there was just something unique when putting on the jersey of his home country.
That same feeling is there for Doncic in representing Slovenia and there is no doubt that the Lakers superstar will continue to put on that international jersey whenever he is called upon to do so.
Pau Gasol ‘super excited’ for Lakers season with Luka Doncic leading the way
Pau Gasol was locked in watching EuroBasket, but he is also very excited for the upcoming Lakers season with Luka Doncic leading the way in trying to bring the Lakers another championship.
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