Last august 3, Spain lost in the quarterfinals of the men’s Olympic basketball tournament 81-95 against the United States. Till the date, that international meeting was the last that Marc Gasol has played. At 36 years old, the one from Sant Boi is currently no team after reaching an agreement with the Memphis Grizzlies to terminate his contract. With this decision, the Gasol middleweight seems to have closed his glorious stage in the best basketball league on the planet, culminating with the champion ring achieved in 2019.
That Marc Gasol is a free agent is an aspect that from the Barça has been monitoring for the last few months, and as admitted by the General Manager of the section, Juan Carlos Navarro, “They are in talks with him to come to the team. They are only conversations and there is no negotiation, although he has not given no negative. He knows of our interest and he has the last word. I will not deny that I would like to have him “Navarro explained. Thus, the Barça club’s interest in Gasol is no longer a secret, and in the event that Marc wanted to rush his sporting career to the highest level in Europe, Barça would open the doors for him from by to by.
His last season in the Lakers was complicated
Marc Gasol lived a complicated year last year in the NBA, where after signing for about Lakers who “promised” prominence, saw how the Californian franchise signed Andre Drummond and repositioned Anthony Davis at ‘5’, being relegated to a role totally secondary. In addition, to physical level, The image that Gasol offered with Spain in the last Olympic event in Tokyo is very different from the one he had, without going any further, in his last years in the Grizzlies, where he became one of the best centers in the league.
The physical aspect, the great unknown
And the physical aspect today is the great unknown that would fly over a possible incorporation to Barça. The demand of the European season, with a weekly double game plus the usual European double rounds and the tight final schedule season where Euroleague and ACB are at stake, makes teams like Real Madrid or Barça itself go to more than 90 games per course, a figure higher than the 82 that teams without a Playoff play in the NBA.
Marc Gasol can be dominant in Euroleague and ACB
Of what there is no doubt is that if Marc Gasol recovers a good physical tone, it can be completely dominant in both Europe and ACB. His brother Pau already did it in Spain, who at age 40 showed that few ‘5’ could cough him in ACB. At 36, Marc could still offer a decisive performance in the Euroleague, the great thorn that was nailed last season. Physical might He is gifted with so few centers in Europe can stop him near the basket. Besides, the outside threat It is one of their main weapons, and their presence on the court to keep rivals like Edy Tavares, Mustapha Fall or Nikola Milutinov away from the rim would make things easier in attack. On defending, Marc Gasol’s delivery has also always been one of his strengths, achieving in the 2012-13 season the award to ‘Best defensive player’ of the NBA.
Reinforce the “punished” Barça interior game
In addition, having Gasol would provide but features the inside game of the team, punished in these first months of competition by injuries. Both Pierre Oriola and Sertaç Sanli have been several games off, and dose the minutes of Nikola Mirotic and Brandon Davies it is crucial for them to reach the decisive stage of the season in the best possible condition.
Raising the Euroleague, a challenge to complete its successful record
The ball is now in Marc Gasol’s court. It is, without a doubt, an important decision and one that must be matured. The rumors that placed him as president-player in Girona this season have not been fulfilled, and in his power, is the decision to return to a Barça that left in 2006 and with which, 15 years later, he could put the finishing touch to an admirable career and that could culminate in one of the few titles that he has not yet won: the Euroleague.
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