Pau Gasol Saez i (Catalan pronunciation: [paw ɡəzɔɫ]) (born July 6, 1980 in Barcelona, Spain) is a Spanish professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He was born to Marisa Saez and Agusti Gasol, and he spent his childhood in Spain. Gasol was designed by the Atlanta Hawks in the NBA Draft 2001, but his rights traded to Memphis Grizzlies, with whom he won NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He currently holds the Memphis Grizzlies franchise record 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. After seven seasons with the team, Gasol traded to the Lakers on February 1, 2008. His younger brother, Marc Gasol is also a professional basketball player for the Memphis Grizzlies in the NBA.
Early career
Early career
Gasol started playing basketball with his school team called the Alvirne, and he eventually signed a contract with Cornella. When he was sixteen years old, he started playing for Barcelona's junior team. [3] He also won the Albert Schweitzer Tournament in 1998 and 1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship. After moving into the senior team from Barcelona, Gasol played a total of only eleven minutes in the season 1998-99, and an average of under 15 minutes per game in the next year. However, at the end of the season in Europe, Gasol average of 11.3 points and 5.2 rebounds in just 24 minutes per game. Barcelona won the Spanish National Cup championship game in 2001, and Gasol named Most Valuable Player. After entering the NBA Draft, Gasol was chosen third overall in the first round of the 2001 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks, who traded the draft rights to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Shareef Abdur-Rahim.
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