He had been ruminating on the decision for a long time, as his body no longer responded as it used to and his head preferred to manage papers and work groups rather than efforts on the hardwood. He also had a succulent offer from his former team Memphis Grizzlies to return to the NBA, a paid secondary role in the best of ways, a club that also intends to retire his jersey. “It was something remote,” confirms Marc Gasol, 39, who understood that he preferred the routine of family and offices over the one acquired during so many years on the court, between the gym and the orange ball. “I had cool proposals, but the best one was to invest in my family. That made it more difficult for me. The fact that the team lost has also delayed the event, which was planned a few weeks ago,” he explained. So this Wednesday, although he had already made the decision in mid-November, he verbalized it in the theaters of the Cinemas Texas in Barcelona: he is retiring as a basketball player. He will continue, in any case, as president of Bàsquet Girona, a club that he refounded and has directed since 2014. “After 20 years receiving love and playing basketball, he had to do something. Instead of hiding, it was saying that it’s over,” Marc reflected; “it touched me. If he had continued playing it would have been for the wrong reasons. “It is the right time to leave basketball.”
Accompanied by his family, by his little brother Adrià and his parents Agustí and Marisa, in addition to his wife Cristina and his daughter – Pau was not there – Marc appeared in rigorous black on stage in a room quite full with personalities who also wanted to be in such an emotional moment, in the case of his former teammate and now Barça basketball director, Juan Carlos Navarro, as well as the president of the coaches association, Joan Maria Gavaldà. And now that? That is the question that framed Gasol’s farewell to basketball, at least with his underwear and sneakers, as well as the background slogan that was seen on the screen at the Texas Cinemas. “That moment has arrived that was so scary. One question haunts you all your life. If we are all made of the same thing, because sometimes you feel so different, so out of place,” he questioned in a video to explain that he found his way with basketball, even though at the beginning when he arrived in Memphis (he accompanied his brother in the NBA) didn’t know where he was. And now that? It was said every time a cycle, a stage, ended. He always responded with the basket, with the ball. Not anymore. But he knows that he will continue as an actor in basketball, president of Girona. “I won’t be bored,” he says amused, convinced that in his act he didn’t want tears but laughter. “It just didn’t feel that way and, above all, it’s not the time to be sad for what you lose but happy for what you have gained.”
Marc abruptly left the Lakers in 2021, at which time he changed the NBA for the LEB Oro League, the Spanish second division. Behind him he left a 13-year career in the basketball elite, after his time in three franchises: Memphis, Toronto and Los Angeles. 990 games in which he made a name -now far from the shadow of his brother Pau-, each time he was named the best defender in the NBA in 2013, he was included in the best quintet of the competition in 2015 and participated three times in the All Star, in addition to winning the ring with the Raptors (2019). At the same time, he also left his mark and won medals with the Spanish team (he defended the shirt from 2006 to 2021 in 191 games), since he won the World Cup twice (2006 and 2019) and the Eurobasket twice (2009 and 2011). ), also Olympic runner-up in Beijing (2008) and London (2012). His first steps, in any case, were taken in the Barcelona youth academy and, after three seasons in the first team – he won the title in 2004 -, he went to Akasvayu Girona, where he uncorked his best version (he was chosen MVP of the tournament in the 2007-08 academic year) before doing the Americas. Such was the affection that he took for the city and the defunct club that he refounded Bàsquet Girona in 2014, then with the help of Pau, who serves as vice president. Always present in the decision-making, however, Marc decided to help the team in its assault on the ACB, in 2021. Said and done, player and, finally, president, since the league changed the statutes so that he could combine the two tasks. “Perhaps the promotion was the best moment because of what it meant and how it was achieved. It was a very special moment,” Marc reflected, ignoring, for example, the NBA ring; “But I wouldn’t change any second of what I experienced, of the mistakes and the successes. “I don’t have any thorns left.”
Sequence of images of Marc Gasol, at the press conference where he announces his retirement. Gianluca Battista
Capital in the Second Division, his performance in the Endesa League hardly decreased because in the previous season, with Aíto on the bench, he averaged 10.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.3 blocks and 0.7 average robberies. But after many years on the parquet, he understood that he liked the slow part of it more than the visceral one. “Outside I have a lot of patience. But on the track I don’t have that time. Outside, rational; inside, passionate,” he reflected a couple of years ago; “When I see that Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I am more motivated by the management of the club, I am already realizing that this is coming to an end.” This Wednesday he added: “Last year I reached my limit physically. “I was in pain and I made the decision.” It happened, however, that he really liked basketball. So much so that he did not dare to say that he was finished at the beginning of this season, even though he did announce that he would not be dressing for the short term for the moment. “It is costing me more than I expected to make this decision, saying goodbye is not that easy,” he resolved, although he also anticipated that his physical condition is no longer what it was, that he ended the year very short on fuel. Now the decision is irrevocable, one he made in November. “He told me I could still play. It has been a long and hard process and a part of me does not agree with the outcome,” Gasol agreed, adding: “but I face it naturally and I am convinced of it, although you know that you can help. But it is time to take a step aside and enjoy and see what basketball has given me, which is a lot.”
Marc Gasol, during the final of the Basketball World Championship in Japan, where Spain faced Greece, on September 3, 2006. FRANK ROBICHON (EFE)Marc Gasol, along with the rest of the players of the Spanish basketball team, celebrates the world championship of the year 2006. Cristóbal Manuel, brothers Pau and Marc Gasol, during the game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Lakers, on March 3, 2009.Lucy Nicholson (REUTERS)Marc Gasol, defended by four players from San Antonio Spurs, on May 19, 2013.Eric Gay (AP)Brothers Marc and Pau Gasol, during the NBA All-Star game held on February 15, 2015 in New York.Kathy Willens (AP)Marc Gasol, pictured in the year 2016. Samuel SanchezMarc Gasol, while addressing the media before the final of the 2019 Basketball World Cup. Juan Carlos Hidalgo (EFE)Marc Gasol makes a basket during a preliminary round game at the Tokyo Olympic Games, held in 2021.Aris Messinis – Pool (Getty Images)Marc Gasol tries to block Chris Paul’s shot, in the game between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns, on May 30, 2021.Keith Birmingham (MediaNews Group via Getty Images Marc Gasol, portrayed in the year 2022.MASSIMILIANO MINOCRIMarc Gasol celebrates the victory in the LEB Oro Playoff Final that Basquet Girona and Movistar Estudiantes played in the Girona Fontajau pavilion, on June 19, 2022. DAVID BORRAT (EFE)Sequence of images of Marc Gasol, during the press conference in which he announced his retirement, this Wednesday. Gianluca Battista
His former teammates will miss him on the court -although Djordjevic and Sorolla cover the center position-, now that they are fighting for their money not to be relegated with a balance of eight wins and 12 losses in the ACB, out of the burn by two games difference with Obradoiro, Granada and Breogán. Reduced advantage if you take into account that at the beginning of the year Girona was the revelation team, to the point that they dreamed of being in the Copa del Rey. But the final results were not good and Gasol, together with his sports council, decided to fire Salva Camps in exchange for Fotis Katsikaris – formerly of Unicaja, among many others from the ACB, and an NBA assistant in Utah – to turn the tide on the waning course. of the team. A squad that will no longer have Marc as a teammate but as president.
Concerned about making the entity grow since 2014, it has gone from having five teams to 30 – it has more than 70 trainers -, in addition to 3×3 basketball – his brother Pau places special emphasis on this – and in wheelchairs. They have also gone from having 150 fans during the first team’s first matches to the 4,000 that fill the pavilion every week. His model, extrapolated as much as possible from the NBA, involves not only guaranteeing the game but also an experience during the day. “That’s why we bring a skating team from the area, a dance or music team, a DJ… In addition to offering a good gastronomic offer in the pavilion. That is important as is not limiting the contact of the players. They must be re-educated and made to understand that they are part of the community in which they play. We have school programs where they will give talks. Or social actions that they must choose. We give them options: social, environmental, such as collecting plastic in the river or sea… They not only come to Girona to play and live very well. They have to get involved,” agrees Gasol, who lists the three pillars of the entity: Methodology, effort and commitment. “Girona was previously Marc Gasol’s personal project. Now he identifies with me, but my image will fade and the club will be above it because it is no longer just my life project but also that of many people.” But for that to happen, time is needed. For now, Marc only leaves the slopes to sit in the box. “I’m in no hurry to decide what will replace basketball. I want to be a better son, father, husband…”, closed that boy who dreamed of playing soccer and ended up with the orange ball in his hands. The one that has given him a name and surname, also a history, and now to Girona.
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