Pau Gasol

Early career
FC Barcelona Basquet (1998–2001)

Pau Gasol was born in Barcelona.[2] He began playing basketball with his school team called Alvirne, and he eventually signed with Cornellà.[3] When he was sixteen, he began playing for Barcelona's junior team.[3] He also won both the 1998 Albert Schweitzer Tournament and the 1998 FIBA Europe Under-18 Championship.[4] After moving to the seniorteam of Barcelona, Gasol played just 25 total minutes in the Spanish ACB League 1998–99 season, and averaged 13.7 minutes per game in the ACB the next year.[5] However, in his final season in the ACB, Gasol averaged 12.4 points and 5.8 rebounds in 24.7 minutes per game.[5] Barcelona was victorious in the Spanish National Cup championship game in 2001, and Gasol was named Most Valuable Player.[4]After entering the NBA Draft, Gasol was selected third overall in the first round in the 2001 NBA Draft by the Atlanta Hawks,[6] who traded his draft rights to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Shareef Abdur-Rahim.[7]
NBA career
Memphis Grizzlies (2001–2008)

In Gasol's first season with the Grizzlies, he won the Rookie of the Year Award,[8] and was named to the All-Rookie first team.[9] Heaveraged 17.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per game, and was also the only team member to play in all 82 games that season.[10] Gasol led the team in scoring (19.0 points per game) in his second year with the team, and for the second year in a row, played in all 82 games.[10] Gasol missed the first game of his career, during his third year, with a foot injury on April 5, 2004, which snapped his stringof 240 consecutive games played.[11] He grabbed the 1,500th rebound of his career on November 12, 2003, against the Orlando Magic and scored his 3,000th career point on October 31, 2003, against the Boston Celtics.[12] Despite having 22 points in Game 4 against the San Antonio Spurs, the highest by a Memphis players in the playoffs, his team was eliminated in the first round, not winning a singlegame against San Antonio. This was both the Grizzlies and Gasol's first trip to the NBA Playoffs.[13] He scored 31 points and blocked four shots on January 11, 2005, against the Indiana Pacers to earn 5,000 points and 500 blocks in his career, becoming the 10th fastest player to reach 5,000 points/500 blocks since 1973–74.[12] He also helped his team make it to the playoffs for the second time inhis career, but they were eliminated in the first round and did not win a single game against the Phoenix Suns.[14]
Gasol was with the Memphis Grizzlies from 2001–2008 until he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers during the 2007–08 season.

In his fifth year with the team, he became the franchise’s all-time leading rebounder on March 24 against the New York Knicks when he grabbed his 3,072ndrebound in a Grizzlies uniform.[12] He made 29 consecutive free throw attempts from January 24 to 28, tying the second best mark in Grizzlies history, including two straight games going 12–12 from the line, tying the best single-game mark in franchise history.[12] Gasol and the Grizzlies returned to the playoffs for the third time in his and his team's history. Once again, they were eliminated inthe first round and did not win a single game against the Dallas Mavericks.[15]

On February 9, 2006, making his first appearance, Gasol was selected to play in the 2006 NBA All-Star Game in Houston, Texas as a reserve center for the Western Conference. At the time, he was one of four players ranked among Western Conference forwards in the top ten in points, rebounds, assists and blockedshots.[16] He was the first Spanish basketball player as well as the first Grizzlies player to ever make it to the All-Star Game.[16]

Gasol missed the first 23 games of the 2006-07 NBA season due to a broken foot suffered near the end of Spain's semifinal win over Argentina in the 2006 FIBA World Championship.[12] He would go on to be named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, which Spain won.[12]...