Pau Gasol

About Pau Gasol

Pau Gasol Sáez or Pau Gasol (pronounced POW guh-SAHL) (born July 6, 1980 in Sant Boi de Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain) is a 2.13 m (7 ft.) Spanish basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born to Marisa Sáez and Agustí Gasol, and he spent his childhood growing up in Spain. Gasol also has two brothers, Marc Gasol, who like Pau, is a professional basketball player, and Adrià Gasol.

Gasol was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks in the 2001 NBA Draft, but his rights were traded to the Memphis Grizzlies, with whom he played seven seasons. He currently holds the Memphis Grizzlies franchise records for career games played, minutes played, field goals made and attempted, free throws made and attempted, offensive, defensive, and total rebounds, blocked shots, turnovers, and points. On February 1, 2008, Gasol was traded to the Lakers, and a USA Today article said he was "the major factor in turning around a storied NBA franchise and making it hip to be a Lakers fan again."

Gasol began playing basketball with his school team called Llor, and he eventually signed with C.B. Cornella. When he was sixteen, he began playing for Barcelona's junior team, which won both the 1998 Albert Schweitzer Tournament and the 1998 European Junior Championship. After moving to the senior team, Gasol played just eleven total minutes in the 1998-99 season, and averaged under 15 minutes per game in the next year. However, in his final season in Europe, Gasol averaged 11.3 points and 5.2 rebounds in just under 24 minutes per game. Barcelona was victorious in the Spanish National Cup championship game in 2001, and Gasol was named Most Valuable Player. After entering the NBA Draft, Gasol was selected third overall in the first round in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks, who traded his draft rights to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Shareef Abdur-Rahim.