“I don’t rule out being a sports director if there is an opportunity that I feel like”
“In Paris 2024 I will make sure that the athletes are well taken care of”
BARCELONA, July 1. (EUROPEAN PRESS) –
The former basketball player Pau Gasol, who in his day went to the NBA from Barça at a very young age and carved out a great career for himself, including two rings, in what is considered the best league in the world, believes that, in order to “protect the talent” of the Spanish basketball must be “cared for” and pampered and, in any case, he added that he does not know if it will be possible to “stop” this flight of young players.
In an interview with Europa Press, Pau Gasol commented that he did not know if this departure of youth players towards the NBA or, even, the university league has been stopped. “The world in general is a competitive world and I don’t know if this brain drain can be stopped,” he acknowledged.
“Today you have to pursue opportunities, but you also have to wake up and offer different and valuable things so that people, whether they are young people or professionals, decide to go here or there,” he commented, in relation to recent cases. Aday Mara (Casademont Zaragoza) and Conrad Martínez (Joventut), who will go on an American adventure.
“You always have to reinvent yourself and adjust to new circumstances. Sport moves a lot on a social and financial level. Regulations have also changed at the university level, now you can compensate players in a very considerable way. All of this makes that also that, that if you want to protect your talent, then you also have to take care of it, you have to compensate it and you have to look for ways to do that,” he argued.
Pau knows part of this future talent since he trains them at his Pau Gasol Academy by Santander, with a part destined for the ‘Rising Star’, future stars. “I continue with the academy, with the boys and girls who come, to excite them, to inspire them, to teach them and to have an unforgettable experience,” he said.
That facet of tutor or teacher is one of the many ‘caps’ he wears so as not to leave the basketball courts aside. “I do miss them, the courts. But I’m also in a place in my life where I accept that my time on the courts as a professional player is over. I’ve been with this sport on many different levels and with different organizations, through through the NBA, through FIBA, as an ambassador in both, also this year I’ve been with the Lakers doing ‘little things’. I’m still linked in different ways”, he valued.
“Right now I am happy having many different caps, having a role that I also believe is important in different aspects and with the peace of mind and flexibility to also enjoy my family. In the end it is not a matter of filling a void, but rather a matter of using experience , the reputation, the knowledge of my career to have a relevant role within sport and society and the world”, stated the man from Sant Boi de Llobregat.
Despite wanting to be with his family and dedicating himself to their many challenges, he does not rule out being a sports director in the future. “It’s something that I’m not ruling out, it’s something that I might explore in more depth at some point, that there might be an opportunity where it’s hard to say no and I’d like to try it,” he said.
And it is that, for the moment, he is also a member of the athletes commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). “I am a member of the athletes commission and a member of the ethics commission of Paris 2024, and I am also a member of the coordination commission of the Olympic Games of Los Angeles 2028. I will be watching, learning as well, because it will be my first Olympic Games as a member of the IOC. Let’s see if something better can be done, if there is something wrong, make sure that the athletes are well cared for and help the Olympic movement in what I can”, he explained about the tasks he will do at the Paris 2024 Olympic event.
MARC GASOL GOODBYE TO THE TRACKS?
Asked by his brother Marc Gasol, president and owner of Bàsquet Girona and, for the moment, still an active player, he believes that the decision to end his career depends solely on him. Pau, as vice president of the Catalan club, sees his brother prepared to continue playing but does not want to interfere in his decision.
“It’s a very personal thing for Marc. In the end, I know what it’s like to be in that final part of your career and it’s a lot about how you find yourself, how you feel and what you want to do, and that’s something that only Marc knows. I see him very well, but he is my little brother and I love him madly and, in short, it is something that he has to decide”, he pointed out.