30 Unknown Facts That Every Fan Should Know About Marc Gasol

5 June 2019, 4:44 pm EDT By Ruby Karnick

Marc Gasol, currently playing for the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA), has won two Olympic silver medals and a FIBA Basketball World Cup title, along with two titles, a silver medal, and two bronze medals in the Euro Basket. Here are some important things to know about the Spanish professional basketball player:

He was born Marc Gasol Saez on January 29, 1985, in Barcelona, Spain, to Marisa Saez and Augusti Gasol. He is the younger brother of Pau Gasol.
Gasol is married to Christian Blesa on July 7, 2013, after several months of courtship. They are blessed with a daughter Julia, who was born in November 2014.
His family moved over to Memphis in 2001, after his brother was drafted in to the Memphis Grizzlies. He was nicknamed ‘The Big Burrito,’ ‘The Tank’ during his time at Lausanne Collegiate School in Memphis.
The 7’ 1’’ rebounding machine, playing for his school, averaged 26 points, 13 rebounds, and six blocks in his senior years to be named ‘Division 2’s Mr. Basketball. His school jersey #33 was retired in 2008.
Gasol along with his brother, Pau, founded the ‘Gasol Foundation’ in 2013, to promote healthy habits and curb the growing epidemic of childhood obesity. He himself weighed 350 pounds in his high school days.
After high school, Gasol passed up several offers to play college basketball and went back to his homeland Spain and began playing professionally in the premier Spanish League, the ACB for FC Barcelona.
He was part of Spanish National Team that participated in the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Japan and went on to win the gold medal. He went on cement his place in the Spanish national team participating in Olympics and other tournaments.
He played in the ACB for four years with two teams and received the ACB Most Valuable Player award and led his team to the championship.
Gasol was selected as 48th overall pick in the 2007 NBA draft by the Los Angeles Lakers but he decided to play in Spain for another season.
On February 1, 2008, he was traded by the Lakers to the Memphis Grizziles, as part of trade package which included his brother, Pau Gasol.

He broke Grizzlies record for highest field goal percentage with 53 %, besting older brother Pau’s 51.8 in his rookie year and subsequently he was selected to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team honors.
Gasol ended his rookie year averaging 11.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.8 steals in 30.7 minutes of play time in 82 games.
Starting in all 81 games in the 2010-11, season he averaged 11.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, a career high 2.5 assists, 0.9 steals, and 1.7 blocks in 31.9 minutes of play time per game. He led Grizzlies through a 13-game run in the NBA Playoffs with 15.0 points and 11.2 rebounds ppg.
Putting all speculation to rest he renewed his contract with Grizzlies on December 14, 2011, for further four years worth almost $8 million.
During the season he earned his first Player of the Week honor in January for the game played from 16 to 22, when he led Grizzlies to a perfect 4-0 week, averaging 19.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.5 blocks.
On February 9, 2012, he was named for the first time to the NBA All-Star on the Western Conference reserve list. Gasol ended the season averaging 14.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.0 steals, and 1.9 blocks per game.
Gasol who anchored the defense for Grizzlies, was named the 2012-13 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year and in the process became the first player in franchise history to earn the honor. As one of the six players to average at least 1.5 blocks and 1.0 steals per game, he garnered 1,089 points.
Though he led Grizzlies defense that allowed a league-low of 88.7 points per game during the season, he was only named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team. Memphis enjoyed a +7.5 score differential when Gasol was on the court, compared to -3.9, when benched.
On November 22, 2013, in the game against Spurs, Gasol was knocked out of the game with a knee injury. He suffered left medial collateral ligament tear which sidelined him for 23 games. He played a career-low 59 games in the season averaging 14.6 points, and 7.2 rebounds.
In the 2014-15, season he averaged a career-high 17. 4 points, on 49.4 % shooting, 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.62 block in 33.2 minutes of play time in 81 games. He was named to the All-NBA First Team for the first time.

Gasol was voted the 2014 Euroscar European Player of the Year, by garnering 25.8 percent vote.
During the season he scored 30-plus points five times after doing so just once in his first six seasons. He set career highs in field goals made and attempted, as well as free throws made and attempted. He had a league high of points, rebounds and assists.
On July 13, 2015, Gasol renewed his contract with Grizzlies for five years, worth an estimated $110 million. According to Grizzlies General Manager Chris Wallace, re-signing Gasol was the No.1 priority for the organization this offseason.
On November 20, 2015, he scored his first career triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists in a 96-84 win over the Houston Rockets. This was the first triple-double of Grizzlies since 2007.
On February 20, 2016, Gasol underwent successful surgery to repair a non-displaced Type II fracture off the navicular bone in his right foot and missed the second half of the season. He set a new career low for games played with 52, averaging 16.6 points and 7.0 rebounds per game.
Gasol and Grizzlies outlasted the Pelicans 110-108 in double overtime on December 5, 2016, as he recorded his second career triple-double with 28 points, 11 rebounds, and 11 assists. He made a game-tying 3-pointers and game-saving block in the first overtime apart from 17-foot decisive basket.
He earned his second Western Conference Player of the Week honor on December 12, 2016, for the games played through December 5 to 11. This is the ninth Grizzlies player to have won the weekly accolade.
As he ended the 2016-17, season averaging career-high 19.5 points and 4.6 assists, he recorded a career-high 42 points on January 25, and his third career triple-double on March 16, 2017, during the season.
In a 111-116 loss to Cavaliers, on December 2, 2017, Gasol scored 27 points and in the process passed 10,000 career points. In February that season he played his 700th career NBA games with 689 starts, thus passing Mike Conley Jr. for most game started in franchise history.
On February 7, 2019, Gasol was traded to the Toronto Raptors as part of trade package. In his 12 NBA season he has averaged 15.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.4, assists, 0.9 steals, 1.5 blocks in 33.4 minutes of play time in 795 games.