Raptors center Marc Gasol may consider finishing his professional basketball career in Europe, according to Xavi Saiso Garcia of radio Ser Catalunya.
Saiso Garcia adds that if the 35-year-old decides to play overseas, it would be for family reasons. Before joining the Grizzlies in 2008/09, Gasol spent five seasons overseas with FC Barcelona Lassa and Sant Josep Girona.
The 7’1″ big man will be an unrestricted free agent in the offseason after spending the last two seasons in Toronto. This season with the Raptors, Gasol averaged 7.5 PPG, 6.3 RPG, and 3.3 APG in 26.4 MPG.
If the 13-year NBA veteran decided to play in Europe, it would not be the first time that we saw a player of his stature do so. Last offseason, Nikola Mirotic, who was an unrestricted free agent, signed a deal with EuroLeague club Barcelona. The veteran forward reportedly would’ve received offers ranging between $45-50MM in NBA free agency.
Wow 50 mil seems steep. Great career but he seems close to washed this past year
That was what Mirotic was reportedly offered and passed on to go back to Europe. Gasol won’t get 1/4 of that.
50 mill for Mitotic???? Really???? Steph and Fake don’t even make that. Think it’s a typo.
45-50M in 3 years (so he was receiving offers around 15M per year).
Not $50M per year… $50M total for the life of the deal
I get the appeal. When you’ve already made your money like Gasol has, would you rather play in Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Denver, Oklahoma City, Dallas, etc etc etc, or would you rather play in Barcelona, or Athens, or Rome etc etc etc. For those of us with a passport and have actually left their home country at one point in their lives, the answer is quite obvious.
Cleveland, Detroit, Denver, OKC, Memphis, Indianapolis, etc etc etc vs Barcelona, Athens, Rome, etc. If you’ve already made your money, what would you do?
pick one of the other cities in the nba, win another championship or 2, make as much money as you can while you can, then retire to a place like Hawaii.
Hawaii? He is from Spain. Ever heard of Ibiza?
“If you’ve already made your money, what would you do?”
Hawaii > Ibiza. Been to both. Surf spots are alot better in Hawaii than Ibiza.
Gasol doesn’t strike me as the surfer type but who knows
Sorry for the repeat. First comment did not show up for a while.
He’s going to Warriors. Vet minimum for two yrs. Go for two rings. Good for at least 1.
Rudy Fernandez did it. Gasol’s stature? No, but Rudy would still have an NBA job if he wanted one. He didn’t, went back home.
Maybe he thinks his brother should of did it sooner. Watching older siblings can help with making life decisions.
Mirotic is nowhere near Gasol’s stature. If Gasol can contend for title in the next couple of years, I would expect him to stay in the NBA, just like his brother did. Otherwise, a homecoming might make more sense for him indeed.
At this point Mirotic is the better player.
Memphis always reminded me of Barcelona
Dude what are you tripping with??? It ain’t no good for your health!!!
Yes most people speak Spanish there and there’s many authentic bodegas
In Barcelona most people speaks Catalan! Try to keep up, dude!