Marc Gasol will retire from basketball as an NBA champion and many other awards. But all of them are not as special as the unique thing that he and Pau Gasol did.
Early this morning (February 1), legendary Spanish striker Marc Gasol officially announced his retirement, ending his 2-decade professional basketball journey.
Marc Gasol started playing in Spain for two clubs, Girona and Barcelona, before coming to the US, playing for three different teams in the NBA: Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors.
Marc Gasol will retire from his career after 20 years of playing basketball in Spain and the NBA
To quickly summarize Marc’s career, he was selected in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers.
While not officially playing in the US, Marc Gasol was traded by the Lakers to the Memphis Grizzlies and swapped places with Pau. This move later had great significance for the yellow and purple team when Pau Gasol lifted the trophy twice with Kobe Bryant.
Marc Gasol and his brother Pau Gasol in a confrontation in the NBA
As for Marc, he made a name for himself at the Memphis Grizzlies, starting with being on the All-Rookie team, then All-Star (3 times), All-NBA (2 times) and All-NBA Defensive Team (2 times).
In addition, Marc Gasol is also the owner of the NBA Defensive Player of The Year title, leading and playing the role of the strongest defensive leader in the tournament in the 2012-13 season.
After 10 years with Memphis, Marc Gasol was traded to the Toronto Raptors in February 2019. The Spanish striker immediately became an important piece of the club’s puzzle, contributing greatly to the Raptors’ championship in the 2018 season. 19.
The 2019 NBA championship is the highlight of Marc Gasol’s career, and also helps him and Pau Gasol become the first pair of siblings to win the tournament together.
This championship ring helped Marc Gasol and Pau Gasol become the first pair of siblings to win the tournament in NBA history, something so far many other pairs of brothers have not been able to do.
Another record for Marc and Pau was set in 2015 when both brothers were selected to the All-Star team, becoming the first pair of All-Star siblings in league history.
In 2015, Pau Gasol and Marc Gasol were the first brothers in NBA history to appear in the All-Star game.
In the last four years of his career, Marc Gasol played one more season for the Raptors, one season for the Los Angeles Lakers before returning to Spain.
In the land of bulls, he refused huge contracts to return to play for his hometown club, Bàsquet Girona, helping this team promote to the highest level of the Spanish professional league (Liga ACB) and then retire. .
On the international arena, Marc Gasol is an important member of the Spanish national basketball team.
Marc and his brother Pau Gasol contributed greatly to two consecutive Olympic silver medals in 2008 and 2012, two FIBA World Cup gold medals and five medals at the EuroBasket European Championship (2 gold, 2 silver, 1 copper).
Now that he has officially retired, Marc Gasol will soon have his No. 33 jersey retired by the Memphis Grizzlies to forever show gratitude for his contributions to this NBA team.