By Nikos Varlas/ varlas@eurohoops.net
The long-awaited return of the 40-year-old Spanish legend in Pau Gasol to the European basketball is very close to happening as the player is near an agreement in principle for a one-year deal with Barcelona. The deal is expected to get finalized later in the summer.
If a deal happens, Pau would return to his roots as he was born in Barcelona and that’s where he made the first basketball steps. He started off in Barca’s junior selection and played for three years in the pros before moving on to a successful two-decade-long NBA career.
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.
Gasol is one of the best players ever in the history of European basketball, a two-time NBA champion with the Lakers, and has won a total of 11 medals with the senior national team, which under him was the most dominant national team of all-times in European basketball.