Pau Gasol Sáez (Catalan: [ˈpaw ɣəˈzɔl], Spanish: [ˈpaw ɣaˈsol]; born July 6, 1980) is a Spanish former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for 18 seasons, primarily as a power forward. He was a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, twice on the second team and twice on the third team. Gasol won two NBA championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009 and 2010. He was the NBA Rookie of the Year in 2002 with the Memphis Grizzlies, the first non-American to win that award. He is regarded as one of the greatest power forwards of all time and one of the greatest European players of all time. He is the older brother of former NBA player Marc Gasol.
Gasol was selected by the Atlanta Hawks with the third overall pick in the first round of the 2001 NBA draft, but his rights were traded to the Vancouver Grizzlies. He holds the Grizzlies' franchise record for free throws made and attempted. Following more than six seasons with Memphis, Gasol played for the Los Angeles Lakers (2008–2014), Chicago Bulls (2014–2016), San Antonio Spurs (2016–2019), and Milwaukee Bucks (2019).
Internationally, Gasol has won a FIBA World Cup title, three EuroBasket titles, two Olympic silver medals, and an Olympic bronze medal with the Spanish national basketball team. Gasol was named MVP of the 2006 FIBA World Cup and the 2009 and 2015 FIBA EuroBasket. Pau Gasol shares (with Krešimir Ćosić) the record for most EuroBasket MVP awards, with two each. Gasol is also the all-time leading scorer in the EuroBasket.
In 2021, he became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). In 2023, it was announced that Gasol would be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Gasol was born in Barcelona. Both of his parents played basketball in organized leagues. His father Agustí, a nurse administrator, stood 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m), and his mother Marisa, a medical doctor, was 6 feet 1 inch (1.85 m). When Gasol was born, his family was living in Cornellà, although he was born in Barcelona, at Sant Pau Hospital, where both of his parents worked. When he was 6 years old, his family moved to a city close to Barcelona, Sant Boi de Llobregat, where he spent the remainder of his childhood. Gasol was interested in football, but loved basketball. The first sport he played was actually rugby, before switching to basketball. He is described as "a family boy and the perfect student, a tad shy, and a bit of a joker."
He originally did not want to make sports his career. On the day that Magic Johnson announced his HIV-positive status in 1991, the 11-year-old Gasol, who had heard the news in school, decided that he wanted to be a doctor and find a cure for AIDS. He enrolled in medical school at the University of Barcelona in 1998, but left after one year as his basketball career at FC Barcelona advanced.
Gasol began playing basketball as a center with his school team, Llor, and eventually signed with Cornellà. When he was sixteen, he began playing for FC Barcelona's junior team. With Spain's national under-18 team, he won both the 1998 Albert Schweitzer Tournament and the 1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. Gasol made his debut on January 17, 1999, with the senior team of FC Barcelona and played just 25 total minutes in the Spanish ACB League's 1998–99 season, and averaged 13.7 minutes per game in the ACB the next year. However, in his final season in the ACB, Gasol averaged 12.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in 24.7 minutes per game. FC Barcelona was victorious in the Spanish National Cup's 2001 Final's championship game, and Gasol was named the Most Valuable Player of the tournament. After entering the NBA draft, Gasol was selected third overall in the first round of the 2001 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks, who traded his draft rights to the Vancouver Grizzlies in exchange for Shareef Abdur-Rahim and the Grizzlies' 27th pick in the draft Jamaal Tinsley.
2001–2005: Rookie of the Year and first playoff appearances
In his first season with the Grizzlies, Gasol became the first foreign player to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. He averaged 17.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, and was also the only team member to play in all 82 games that season. Gasol led the team in scoring (19.0 points per game) in his second year with the Grizzlies, and for the second year in a row, played in all 82 games. Gasol missed the first game of his career, during his third year, with a foot injury on April 5, 2004, which snapped his string of 240 consecutive games played. He grabbed the 1,500th rebound of his career on November 12, 2003, against the Orlando Magic and scored his 3,000th career point on October 31, 2003, against the Boston Celtics. Despite having 22 points in Game 4 against the San Antonio Spurs, the highest by a Memphis players in the playoffs, his team was eliminated in the first round, not winning a single game against San Antonio. This was both the Grizzlies and Gasol's first trip to the NBA Playoffs. Following the season, Gasol signed a six-year, $86.5 million extension that began in the 2005–06 season and last through the 2011–12 season. On January 11, 2005, he scored 31 points and blocked four shots against the Indiana Pacers to earn 5,000 points and 500 blocks in his career, becoming the 10th fastest player to reach 5,000 points/500 blocks since 1973–74. He also helped his team make it to the playoffs for the second time in his career, but they were eliminated in the first round and did not win a single game against the Phoenix Suns.
2005–2008: First All-Star appearance and franchise records
In his fifth year with the Grizzlies, he became the franchise's all-time leading rebounder on March 24 against the New York Knicks when he grabbed his 3,072nd rebound in a Grizzlies uniform. He made 29 consecutive free throw attempts from January 24 to 28, tying the second best mark in Grizzlies history, including two straight games going 12–12 from the line, tying the best single-game mark in franchise history. Gasol and the Grizzlies returned to the playoffs for the third time in his and his team's history. Once again, they were eliminated in the first round and did not win a single game against the Dallas Mavericks.
On February 9, 2006, making his first appearance, Gasol was selected to play in the 2006 NBA All-Star Game in Houston, Texas as a reserve center for the Western Conference. At the time, he was one of four players ranked among Western Conference forwards in the top ten in points, rebounds, assists and blocked shots. He was the first Spanish basketball player as well as the first Grizzlies player to ever make it to the All-Star Game.
Gasol missed the first 23 games of the 2006–07 NBA season due to a broken foot suffered near the end of Spain's semifinal win over Argentina in the 2006 FIBA World Championship. He would go on to be named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, which Spain won. He had a season-high 34 points (most by a Grizzly that season), and eight rebounds and tied a career-high and franchise record with eight blocks on January 29 against the Sacramento Kings, and surpassed Shareef Abdur-Rahim as the franchise's all-time leader in free throw attempts on January 31 against the Dallas Mavericks. He became the all-time franchise leader in field goals made on February 6 against the Houston Rockets, and became the all-time franchise leader in minutes played on February 7 at Dallas. He surpassed Shareef Abdur-Rahim (7,801 points) as the Grizzlies' all-time leading scorer on March 7, 2007, against the Toronto Raptors (7,809 points at the time). On January 24, 2007, Gasol recorded his second career triple-double against the hosting Utah Jazz, garnering 17 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists. He also registered 2 blocks and one steal.
Los Angeles Lakers (2008–2014)
2008–2011: Back-to-back championships and All-NBA appearances
On February 1, 2008, Memphis traded Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers along with a 2010 second round draft pick for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, the rights to Marc Gasol (Pau's younger brother), and 2008 and 2010 first round draft picks. There has been some controversy surrounding the trade. Chris Wallace denied in an ESPN article that he had been ordered by owner Michael Heisley to make the Grizzlies more attractive to a potential buyer. Wallace said, "No one put pressure on me to do this, and Michael Heisley has actually been reluctant to move Pau." He also said that they had been "trolling" the waters for a while and dealt with a number of teams. He selected the Lakers deal because "it didn't get any better than this." When Gasol departed the Grizzlies, he held twelve franchise records, including games played, minutes played, field goals made, free throws made and attempted, offensive, defensive, and total rebounds, blocked shots, turnovers, and points. Per game statistics, he leads Memphis in defensive and total rebounds along with blocked shots.