Milwaukee Bucks: Pau Gasol to return to basketball with Barcelona
By Adam McGee
Having last played an NBA game with the Milwaukee Bucks, legendary big man Pau Gasol is reportedly set to return to basketball with Barcelona.
Pau Gasol enjoyed a far from auspicious time with the Milwaukee Bucks, logging just 30 minutes across three games at the end of the 2018-19 season. Still, it had started to look incredibly likely that the final action of Gasol’s pro career may well have come wearing Milwaukee colors.
Gasol agreed to a deal with the Portland Trail Blazers ahead of the start of the current campaign, but having been plagued with injury problems as a Buck, injuries ultimately led to him being waived without even having played a single game for the Blazers too.
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Thankfully, it looks like there now could be a much happier conclusion to the popular big man’s career lying in wait.
According to reports from Europe, Gasol is reportedly set to agree terms on a deal that will see him return to Barcelona, where his glittering professional career began before the NBA even came calling.
The news was reported by Nikos Varlas of EuroHoops, who noted that the move is motivated by the now 40-year-old Gasol’s desire to have one final tournament run with the Spanish national team at the now rescheduled Olympic Games in Tokyo.
"“The ideal unfolding of Pau Gasol’s story would be that the Spaniard completes a full circle in his career with one year at Barca and then retire after one final Olympic run with the national team in Tokyo.”"
According to Varlas, the deal will be for one year and will be finalized at some point later in the summer.
Pau Gasol will join up with another recent Milwaukee Bucks player as he returns to play with Barcelona next season.
Of course, that will mean that Gasol won’t even be the only member of the 2018-19 Bucks playing for Barcelona, as Nikola Mirotic opted to return to the European giants rather than accepting other NBA offers when he hit free agency in the summer of 2019.
With a lucrative contract sent his way, the move has worked out nicely for Mirotic, who has averaged 18.9 points and 6.1 rebounds across all competitions in the 2019-20 season.
Still, Mirotic’s decision is one that will continue to draw a lot of scrutiny, particularly given some pointed comments made about his Bucks experience not too long ago.
Either way, Gasol will join Mirotic in what’s an increasingly star-studded Barcelona team, with former NBAer and international teammate of Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nick Calathes, also reported to have agreed a deal to play for the Catalan club.
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As for Gasol, it would be hard to begrudge him the storybook ending to what’s been a truly monumental career. And at the very least, it would be nice to see him enjoy a healthy season back in his home city and get to say goodbye to the game on his own terms.