Former Los Angeles Lakers Big Man Rues Missed Chance In 2020 Olympics, Hopes To Play In 2021

KEY POINTS

Pau Gasol had planned to play in the Olympics before it was postponed
Gasol last played in 2019 in the NBA
Gasol says the delay could buy him more time to recover

Pau Gasol is not yet done playing basketball. The NBA veteran admitted he had looked forward to making his fifth Olympics appearance in Tokyo before it was postponed until 2021 due to the Coronavirus. But while next year’s summer will remain as a challenge, the Spanish says that he will still be open to representing his country anew in the international competition.

“I was hoping before everything changed and got postponed, or canceled, that I was going to have enough time to heal my injury, to get in an appropriate shape to be able to compete and play and still, at 40 years old, play my fifth Olympics this summer in Tokyo,” said Gasol, per the Olympic Channel.

Gasol has been out of competitive basketball since 2019 when he barely played for the Milwaukee Bucks due to a left ankle injury. He then signed with the Portland Trail Blazers in the summer but was waived before the start of the season.

From a broad perspective, the former Los Angeles Lakers big man opts to look at the brighter side of the delay as he admitted that the postponement of the Games could buy him more time to recuperate and perhaps be more ready to compete in 2021.

But as he turns 41, the two-time NBA champion admits his desired Olympic swansong will not be served on a silver platter.

“Now I have more time to recover, but I will have to play competitively in order to get to summer of 2021 at a high level and be able to compete and help my country. Which is not a bad thing,” he said. “But the truth of it is that, you know, in summer 2021 I'll be 41 which is a challenge. And it's something that might excite me, being a very challenge-driven person and very ambitious always. And it is very much still a desire to be able to play my fifth Olympics and potentially that being my very last tournament.”

Arguably one of the best international players in history, Gasol is a one-time World Cup winner, on top of two Olympic silver medals and a bronze. He is also a three-time Gold Medalist of the Eurobasket, where he was hailed the MVP twice.