GASOL Pau

General
INJURY AND BACK TO SPAIN
In March 2019, a few days after signing for NBA team Milwaukee Bucks, he sustained a stress fracture in his left foot. After returning to play, recurrent problems with the injury made him stop again. He then signed for the Portland Trail Blazers, but never got to debut with the team. It took him two years of rehabilitation to be able to play again, and he decided to play in Spain, where he felt the pressure would be less and he would have more chance to be selected for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. "I have been evaluating different options for months in order to return to the courts, but I could not ignore the reality of my injury, which I have been dealing with for more than two years. I needed a progressive plan for my set up, going step by step and FC Barcelona offered me exactly that. Coming back home to Barcelona, certainly has a special meaning for me. I return to my roots twenty years later, to the club that gave me the opportunity to grow as a player. It is something difficult to describe, something extraordinary. Without a doubt, an ideal setting to close my stage as a player and contribute as much as I can to the club that has given me so much." (expansion.com, 13 Mar 2021; mundodeportivo.com, 23 Feb 2021; nba.com, 24 Mar 2020)

TOKYO GAMES AND FUTURE
He considered the postponement of the Olympic Games in Tokyo as a positive, as it enabled him to recover from his injury. "It has given me more margin, in fact, I would not have gone if the Games had been in 2020, I would not have had time to recover." He does not know if the Games will be the end of his sports career. "We will see after the Games. I will disconnect for a time and then it will be the moment to reflect about my future, talk with my family, see how I feel and we will weigh the possibilities. Now all I want is to focus on being at the best level for this great challenge. I want to enjoy this moment." (lavanguardia.com, 24 Jun 2021)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
He and his brother Marc set up the Gasol Foundation, which aims to help reduce childhood obesity rates in the United States of America through physical activity and healthy eating. He also heads a basketball academy in the city of Barcelona, Spain. The academy is dedicated to creating individual training programs for people who want to improve their basketball skills. (paugasol.com, 29 Apr 2021; gasolfoundation.org, 17 Apr 2015)

The 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo will be his fifth Olympic Games, which will equal the record for a Spanish basketballer, set by Juan Carlos Navarro who competed at his fifth Games in 2016. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Jul 2021)

He and his brother Marc are the first brothers to have both won an NBA title in the United States of America. Marc secured his first in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors, while Pau was champion with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009 and 2010. (bbc.com, 14 Jun 2019)

He and brother Marc faced off against each other in the opening tip off of the 2015 NBA All-Star Game in New York, NY, United States of America, becoming the first brothers in NBA history to be voted All-Star starters. "We have a great competitive nature, but that never affects our personal relationship as brothers." (mvp247.com, 15 Feb 2015)