Although he could continue to play in the NBA if he wanted to, Mark Gasol decided in the summer to put an end to a great career in the best league in the world.
He also decided to return to European basketball, but in an unconventional way.
The destination is very surprising.
Corrected: Surprising to everyone - not to Mark Gasol.
On Thursday he announced a return to Girona: "I wanted to show my commitment to the club, and what better way than to do it on the pitch."
Gasol's younger brother finished 13 seasons in the world's best league at the age of 36, and as his brother Pau did last season returned to play basketball in Europe, but the difference is big.
Mark gave up the whipping for an interesting purpose.
Some thought of a comeback to Barcelona as Pau (who retired this summer) did last season.
Barça general manager Juan Carlos Navarro has made it clear that the team is interested.
But Mark had other plans.
He is going to play in the second division in Spain in the Girona team where he serves as owner, which he established in the city where he lives.
Premiere: Early December.
In other words - there is no more exciting way to give back to the club that built you.
They are brothers, but their cases are different.
Pau grew up in Barcelona and left it for a long career in the NBA.
Mark, on the other hand, who everyone thinks is associated with Barcelona, is loyal to Girona.
He may have started in Barcelona, but the one who picked up his career, maybe even saved it, was Girona.
Mark's years at the beginning of his professional career in Barcelona were not good.
He was very overweight, also suffered an injury and whoever looked at his career in the situation he was in then, could not predict why he would become one later.
In 2006 he left Barcelona and moved to Girona.
It was a big project for the team, with stars on the scale of Gregor Pochka, Ariel MacDonald and Fernando San Amtrio - and above all with a top coach, Svetislav Pasic.
Girona's Mark was a different story, a different player and at the end of two years already found himself in the NBA, on his way to a great career with nearly 11 seasons in Memphis, a championship with Toronto and personal titles of the top five, a defensive player of the season and three All-Star appearances.
At the same time he won with the Spanish team twice the world championship and twice the European championship.
In Spain's EuroBasket 2011 win, Photo: AP
His influence in Girona was great, with a win in the FIBA EuroCup and in the second season reaching the ULB Cup final, when in the local arena it reached the playoffs in its two seasons.
Mark's future was rosy.
The future of the group really does not.
Economic problems actually led to its dissolution.
In 2014 the player decided to become the owner of the team.
She has progressed from the fourth division to the second division, and this season with her new president / player she wants to return to the first division in what could be a dream circle closing for a player.
It will not be easy because the team started the season with a 7: 2 balance.
The club was very excited and in the background of a press conference the slogan appeared: "The moment we have been waiting for for 13 years."
The man who played last year alongside LeBron James in the Los Angeles Lakers will play in the second division in Spain this season.
Another story that proves that romance in sports has not disappeared.
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