The Los Angeles Lakers organization is one of the most historic in sports history with a number of legendary players putting on the Purple and Gold, helping them win 17 championships, which is tied for the most in the league.
One of those legendary players is Pau Gasol, who the Lakers acquired in a trade with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2008. Gasol helped put the Kobe Bryant-led Lakers over the top, winning back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010.
While Gasol hasn’t played for the Lakers since 2014, his playing days weren’t over yet as he moved on to play for the Chicago Bulls, San Antonio Spurs and Milwaukee Bucks before going back home to play in Spain.
He most recently played for FC Barcelone and then Spain in the Olympics. It appears that will be the end of Gasol’s playing career though as according to Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops.net, he is expected to announce his retirement on Tuesday:
Pau Gasol is expected to announce his retirement from professional basketball next Tuesday, 5 October.
He has set a press conference to address the ending of his career on Tuesday, per Lucas Saez-Bravo.
This marks the end of an outstanding playing career that will likely result in Gasol being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame due to his contributions in the NBA and internationally. If he makes the Hall of Fame, it will be interesting to see if the Lakers decide to retire his No. 16 jersey, which he is definitely worthy of due to his contributions to the organization.
In addition to winning two championships, Gasol was named an All-Star six times while being named to four All-NBA Teams in his career. He also won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year award in 2001-02.
Internationally, Gasol has won 11 medals in FIBA competitions, including gold in the 2006 World Cup and silver in the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.
In Gasol’s most recent stint with FC Barcelona, he averaged 4.6 points and 2.4 rebounds per game over seven Turkish Airlines EuroLeague appearances and also averaged 10.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per ACB contest, finishing by winning the ACB championship.
Gasol played in this summer’s Olympics in Tokyo and although Spain did not medal, he averaged 6.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.0 assists per game.
Marc Gasol expected to play in Spain
Pau Gasol’s brother Marc played for the Lakers last season although that partnership lasted just one year as he was traded away this offseason.
The expectation is that Marc will play in Spain this season, finishing out his career in his home country just as Pau did.
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