Former NBA champion Marc Gasol retires from basketball

By Can Erozden

Former NBA champion Marc Gasol retired from basketball on Wednesday.

Gasol, 39, announced his retirement in a video on X and said: "End of a chapter. Thank you."

The long video includes Gasol's early years, club and Spanish national team achievements, and his NBA stint with the Memphis Grizzlies and Toronto Raptors.

"What's next? ... Now it's time to give back everything it (basketball) taught you," Gasol said and thanked those who supported him during his journey.

Well-known NBA insider, Shams Charania, said the Grizzlies is planning to retire his No. 33 jersey after he spent 11 years with Memphis.

Gasol, a former Barcelona center, played for the Grizzlies, Raptors and the Los Angeles Lakers while he was in the NBA. He was a three-time NBA All-Star as well.

He helped the Toronto Raptors win the 2019 NBA title, the franchise's first-ever league title.

One of the important members of Spain, Gasol won Olympic silver medals at the Beijing 2008 and London 2012 games

He won world titles with Spain in 2006 and 2019, before moving to the mediocre Spanish club Basquet Girona he founded in 2014.

The former Spain regular played for Basquet Girona from 2021 - 2023.

Gasol has an older brother, Pau, who was also an NBA player. The 43-year-old was also one of the important European players of his generation as Pau won two NBA titles in 2009 and 2010 with the Lakers.

Pau, a six-time NBA All-Star, retired in 2021.