The end of an era: Gasol brothers retire from Spanish National Team / News - Basketnews.com

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After losing to the USA in the Olympic quarter-finals, Spanish legends Pau and Marc Gasol announced their retirement from the National Team. Whether it was Pau's last basketball game in any professional competition remains to be seen. Marc will continue his NBA career.

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Pau did not score any points and grabbed three rebounds in his final game with Spain. The 41-year-old averaged 6.5 points and 4.8 rebounds over 12 minutes in the Tokyo Olympics.

"You can really overcome anything if you put your mind and heart to it. Just the fact that I was able to come back, play, compete, just a huge success already. This was my last game for the national team, I'll have to talk to my family and see whether it's worth for me to keep playing (at club level) or to move on to other goals in life."

Pau Gasol is one of the winningest basketball players ever. He is a two-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, six-time NBA All-Star, and 2002 Rookie of the Year. In the international arena, he led Spain to gold medals at the 2006 World Cup, and the EuroBasket in 2009, 2011, and 2015. Gasol also has silver medals from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, and 2003 and 2007 EuroBasket tournaments. To complete his collection of all colors, Pau has bronze medals from the 2016 Olympics, and 2001 and 2017 European championships.

Marc was also held scoreless, but grabbed four rebounds and dished an assist. The 36-year-old averaged 5.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists over 18 minutes this summer.

"Younger guys have to play. And in order for them to play, the older guys have to move out of the way," Marc explained.

Pau's younger brother has accumulated many trophies over his career as well. Marc won the NBA championship in 2019 and was named NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2013. Former Memphis Grizzlies big man was named to the NBA All-Star game three times. With the Spanish national team, Marc Gasol won World Cup titles in 2006 and 2019, European championships in 2009 and 2011. He also has silver medals from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, as well as the 2007 EuroBasket. Marc was a member of the 2013 and 2017 Spanish squads that won bronze at the 2013 and 2017 EuroBasket tournaments.

"Hopefully our young players have learned. It is hard to learn skills or talent as you have to work on that and spend hours and hours on the practice court, but if you are smart enough, you learn how to compete and be a team player and a good teammate. That is the part of this story that is the real legend, not only for Spanish basketball but the world of basketball in general and the world of sport. It has been a pleasure to spend so much time with these guys - I will miss those who are not coming back and the link will be there forever - this will be there for life, for sure," bid his farewell to the outgoing legendary players Spain's head coach Sergio Scariolo. Thank you for reading us! We have even more content for you.