Pau Gasol

Pau Gasol Sáez was born in Barcelona, Spain, on July 6, 1980. His parents were both basketball players, and his mother was a medical doctor and his father a nurse administrator. Gasol initially pursued a medical career, enrolling in medical school at the University of Barcelona in 1998, but his burgeoning basketball career led him to leave after one year. He began playing basketball as a center for his school team, Llor, and later for Cornellà, before joining FC Barcelona’s junior team at age sixteen. With Spain’s national under-18 team, he won the 1998 Albert Schweitzer Tournament and the 1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. He debuted with FC Barcelona’s senior team in 1999, contributing to their Spanish National Cup victory in 2001, where he was named tournament MVP.

Gasol was drafted by the Atlanta Hawks as the third overall pick in the 2001 NBA draft, but his rights were traded to the Vancouver Grizzlies (later Memphis Grizzlies). In his first NBA season (2001–02), he earned the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, becoming the first non-American player to do so, and was named to the NBA All-Rookie First Team. He averaged 17.6 points and 8.9 rebounds, playing all 82 games. He continued to lead the Grizzlies in scoring and rebounding, making his first NBA All-Star appearance in 2006. In 2008, Gasol was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, where he won two NBA championships in 2009 and 2010. During his tenure with the Lakers, he received two All-NBA Second Team selections (2011, 2015) and two All-NBA Third Team selections (2009, 2010), alongside multiple All-Star selections. He also played for the Chicago Bulls (2014–2016), San Antonio Spurs (2016–2019), and Milwaukee Bucks (2019), before returning to FC Barcelona in 2021, where he won another Liga ACB championship.

Internationally, Gasol achieved significant success with the Spanish national basketball team, securing a FIBA World Cup title in 2006 (where he was named MVP) and three EuroBasket titles in 2009 and 2011, and 2015 (earning MVP honors in 2009 and 2015). He also earned two Olympic silver medals (2008, 2012) and an Olympic bronze medal (2016). Gasol became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2021 and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023. Beyond his athletic achievements, Gasol is a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador and co-founder of the Gasol Foundation, which aims to combat childhood obesity.