“And now what?”
Advance the video on the Texas cinema screen, in Gràcia. Now we are seeing it in a big way, although it has circulated on social networks before, it has been like this for a couple of days.
– Marc, what are you going to do now? – they ask him in English, Spanish and Catalan.
And the basketball icon, who does not open his mouth in the video, tells us: basketball is over.
He leads the event himself, as he has previously led Girona Basketball, a club of which he was founder (2014) and president, owner and player. On stage, Marc Gasol struts with mastery and grace.
And he tells us his story, his yearnings as a child, his relationship with his brother Pau, his journey at Barça, the national team, Girona, the NBA, Girona again.
– It has been an obsession to play with the best, to look them in the face and say: “And now, what?” -is called.
He declares himself a son, brother, husband, father and friend of many.
– It’s time to give everything I’ve been taught – he says.
There are his parents, Agustí and Marisa. And his wife, Cristina Blesa, and their children. And his younger brother, Adrià.
– We had to do something and that’s why we’re here – says Marc Gasol (39), who wears an NBA ring, two world titles and two more European titles, and who has not worn shorts this year: it’s been a long and hard process and there’s a part of me that doesn’t agree with this outcome, but it is what it is. I will miss it, but the time is right.
(He will continue as executive president of Girona Bàsquet; it is marked as a priority objective that the club remains in the top category.)
– It’s not time to play anymore, even though having had proposals to continue has made everything difficult for me: it made me self-deceive, but my bet is to invest time in my family and myself.
– And what will you do?
– I want to give myself time. I want to be a better son, friend, father and husband. When you’re a basketball player you’re never 100% in those aspects, and I’m looking forward to it.
So, two paths cross here: while Ricky Rubio (33), the player who is training again with Barça (awaiting a decision on his future), lights up, the presence of Marc Gasol, generational companion, dressing room and titles.
(Juan Carlos Navarro, director general of Blaugrana basketball, has been present at all the events: he had witnessed Ricky Rubio’s return and is now witnessing Marc Gasol’s farewell.)
– Moving up to the ACB with Girona (2022), with all the work it involved and all the bureaucratic procedures for weeks, I think it was the happiest moment of my career.
– And which teammates would you put in two initial fives?
– In FIBA ??I would base Ricky. Of three, San Emeterio, which fills the empty spaces. There is Juanqui (Navarro) and my brother, and me. And in the NBA, Mike Conley, Tony Allen, Kawhi Leonard, Randolph and, at five, myself.
– What would you say to the new generations? – asks Jordi de Mas, creator of the @demas6basket platform.
-Don’t be influenced by what they say when they are starting out.
(And the subconscious takes us back to his beginnings in the ACB League, when he made his way to Barça, despite the skepticism of Dusko Ivanovic, his coach at the time.)
