Barcelona: Spanish Basketball Great Pau Gasol announced on Tuesday that he retired from sports after a 23-year career.
“I’m here to tell you that I will retire from a professional basketball.
It’s a difficult decision after years but it is a decision that I have taken carefully,” Gasol, 41, said at a news conference at Theater Lateu Barcelona.
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Gasol, which stood 7 feet 1 inch, made his professional debut in 1998 with Barca as the center before being signed by the NBA Side Memphis Grizzlies in 2001.
He won the NBA title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009 and 2010 when elected at all.
-Star team at six occasions.
Gasol then played for the Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs and had a short task with Milwaukee Bucks plus four months in the Portland Trail Blazer, where the injury blocked him to play.
He returned to Barcelona earlier this year, helping his childhood club ended seven years waiting to win the Spanish championship in June.
Gasol is a talisman for Spain, helping them win the Olympic silver medal in the 2008 and 2012 matches plus Bronze in 2016.
He recovered from almost two years injured to compete at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, where Spain was missing in the quarter-finals for the end of the US winner Lastly.
Gasol began a press conference by detailing his battle to overcome the stress fracture he suffered on his left leg in 2019.
“Not many doctors think I will be able to recover but I am a person who likes challenges and I want to fight what is impossible,” he said.
“I arrived at the point where I was relaxed about my career ended, I was peaceful.
But when everything went well, I made a decision to sign for Barcelona which wasn’t in my plan.
But I managed to win the league with a club where everything began And where I made his debut.
It was very special.
“Gasol also gave respect for the late Kobe Bryant, his old Lake teammate who died in a helicopter accident in January 2020.” I have loved it to be here today but sometimes life does not.
Fair, “Gasol added.
“He taught me to a better competitor, a real winner, I consider it like an older brother.”