Pau Gasol planning to play for FC Barcelona Regal if lockout wipes out the NBA season
The NBA Labour Dispute is proving to be a blessing in disguise for native countries of foreign players in NBA.
Tony Parker, Andrei Kirilenko, Rudy Fernandez and Nenad Krstic have already moved to represent their own domestic teams which will boost the local basketball immensely.
And recently, Spanish superstar Pau Gasol also announced his plans to return back to his country in case the lockout eats away the whole NBA season.
After Union’s rejection to owners recent 50-50 BRI split offer and Union’s decision of seeking courts to sort out the issue, Gasol believes this lockout is now gone chronic and is now in the hands of attorneys. He was quick to react after the news of union seeking court’s help reached him and defending himself and all the players he said
“What we want is to play. I guess from now on things will change. This process is damaging the image of the league there. There are many details and the end is hard to understand. The players accepted the last time 50/50 with the condition that respect of other things that were important; there are so many details that it is impossible to understand the situation”
Gasol previously denied the prospects of moving abroad but now as the chances of NBA season are getting slimmer with days, he decided it’s time he should go back and play in the country where he learned the basics of basketball. Talking to Spanish media, he also hinted at his younger brother Marc Gasol’s plans of joining him as well.
“If they cancel the season we would like to play here, I speak for myself, but Marc would also like to play for Barcelona.”
Both Gasol’s represented Spain in FIBA European Championship 2011 and dominated the offense of the national team throughout the tournament so it will be good to see both of them in the Spanish courts once again.
Pau started his basketball career with Spanish FC Barcelona Regal- same team which he will be representing again and led the team to national championship title in 2001. After declaring himself for the NBA draft in 2001, he was selected by Atlanta Hawks but his rights were traded to Memphis Grizzlies later.
After being with Grizzlies for 7 years and solely taking the team to new heights, he moved to Los Angeles Lakers- a move that earned him two NBA champion titles in 2009 and 2010.
Gasol was hopeful the season would start and that is the reason he spent the extended offseason working out to get himself prepared, however unfortunately, the issue only magnified with time and that is when he decided to say goodbye to NBA for a while.
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