By Antigoni Zachari / info@eurohoops.net
Marc Gasol, who recently penned a deal with 2020 NBA champions Los Angeles Lakers, joined Esmaixada.cat‘s Artau Pascual Selis on Twitch and talked about what motivates him with the Lakers, finishing the 2019-20 season in the bubble, as well as the option to join Spain for the 2022 EuroBasket, among other things.
“It is a team that will fight for the ring and has just won it. For me, the feeling of waking up every day with the option or intention of fighting for the ring gives me a lot of fuel. For me, this is important, basic, it is a historical franchise of which I was anecdotally part many years ago and of which Pau was also a part. I feel familiar with the city”, said Gasol about the motivation behind signing with the Lakers.
The Spanish NT, which lifted the 2019 FIBA World Cup, has just sealed its ticket for the 2022 EuroBasket and despite not being able to guarantee his presence, the 35-year-old center said he would love to be part of the team for the Olympics.
“I live day to day, I can’t fool you. I’ve gotten to a point where I don’t look beyond what I have in front of me. It’s like a 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 contract. When you finish each contract you have to look at how it went and make decisions. You can’t make commitments beyond what you have in front of you. I told Sergio that my season will surely last a long time – if all goes well – but that I want to make the effort to be there. My will is to be at the Tokyo Olympics, that doesn’t change. But beyond that I can’t tell you anything”, he stated.
Gasol also gave his feedback on the NBA bubble, where teams finished the 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic that wouldn’t permit individual facilities to work one at a time. He explained the frustration and the reality of playing isolated from everyone, even his own family that resides in Barcelona.
“They tried to be on top of it, but it was a very atypical situation. You tried to fix the problems as they came out. The priority was to keep the virus from entering the bubble and spreading. […] There were tools: if you wanted you could talk to psychologists, coaches or whoever it was. Many times, when you need them, you don’t realize you need them so much. It wasn’t an easy situation, I think we all tried to do our best and sometimes it turned out well and sometimes it didn’t, but having someone 24 hours on top during the days we were isolated… I don’t know, I think in life what we do is fine as professionals but there should a necessary balance that was not there at the time. My children were 7000 miles away and for me not being with them, not being in charge of their well-being, was not ideal. It didn’t make me feel like I was doing what I had to do at the time”, he commented.
As life in the bubble progressed, there was a historic decision made by players to boycott the games and take a strong stance against acts of violence and rasism. Gasol explained:
“There was a growing frustration at the time because the whole BLM movement was not moving forward or having the impact we wanted. Things kept happening, and surely will continue to happen, racist facts and acts that added to and fueled the flame of frustration that carried the entire NBA family that was there. This led to a moment of brotherhood for all teams”
“It was from player to player, we had a lot of strength there. I really liked the clarity of the players understanding the impact each decision has. You have a prism of vision, you see some things, and the empathy they had with everyone should be highlighted”, Gasol added.