It’s official now. Pau Gasol became this Tuesday new Barcelona player to be registered in the Euroleague and prepare for their participation in the Tokyo Olympics, as announced by the Catalan pivot himself on his social networks. “I am very happy to announce that I am returning home and that I will soon join the ranks of FC Barcelona in basketball,” wrote the best Spanish player in history on his Twitter account. “I am happy to return to the club where I started and I face this opportunity with enthusiasm and with the hope of being able to contribute to the first team soon,” added the world champion with the national team and two-time NBA champion with the Lakers. that because of his foot injury he has not played for almost two years.
Three days after his return to Barça was announced, Pau Gasol confirmed his signing for Barcelona until the end of the season, although on Saturday cool down the rumors that put him back at Barcelona. «Following the news that has appeared, I want to communicate that I continue to focus on my recovery and I am not yet ready to get back on track. When I have something to announce, I will do it through my social networks, “the pivot wrote then on Twitter, after it was taken for granted that he had reached an agreement to play for Barça.
Pau Gasol He has been preparing his return to the slopes for months through private training with the aim of verifying that he was in a position to compete again and to convince a team to bet on him, despite having been in dry dock for two years. An essential step for Sergio Scariolo, the Spanish coach, to take him to what would be his fifth Olympic Games. Now he will have the opportunity to do so under the tutelage of Jasikevicius, with whom he shared the court in his last season before heading to the NBA in 2001.
Pau Gasol he won two leagues and a Copa del Rey in his previous stay at Barça, between 1998 and 2001. He averaged 8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 0.7 assists in the 81 ACB games he played with the Barça team. He made his debut at 18 years, 6 months and 13 days in a match against Cáceres that would go down to posterity for the premiere of the greatest legend that Spanish basketball has ever given. Now, after counting 1,226 NBA games spread over five franchises with averages of 17 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game and donning two rings under the aegis of Phil Jackson in those wonderful Lakers commanded by his faithful friend Kobe Bryant, seems close to returning to what was his home to increase the arsenal of a formidable wardrobe in which Nikola Mirotic, Cory Higgins, Álex Abrines and Nick Calathes, among others, stand out.
The goal is in Tokyo, where the veteran center dreams of adding another metal to the two silver medals that he won with the Spanish team in Beijing 2008 and London 2012 and the bronze that he won in Rio 2016.
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