Pau Gasol He has retired from the practice of professional basketball after more than two decades of success on the circuit and being one of the main figures on the Spanish and European scene. At all levels. The Barcelona player has won everything and almost everyone and as one of the best players globally between what has been done in the NBA and at the FIBA level, with the Spanish National Team. Only others like Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Drazen Petrovic or Arvydas Sabonis come close to his resume in this regard. It is, therefore, one of the greats in history.
A stage in Europe, the entire NBA, another stage in Europe. Thus, in a circle, it is how a legendary career is drawn for Pau Gasol, who has been able to earn a good living as a professional basketball with the contracts signed in the United States, where he won the Ring twice.
Other firms outside of the strictly sports are not included in this review. For example, that of the brand that has dressed him since its inception, Nike, or another of its most recognizable sponsorships, that of Banco Popular.
Gasol has spent part of his fortune on social works, such as those he develops with the foundation that bears his name. With his brother Marc he shares some of these funds to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Pau Gasol’s money
It is difficult to gauge what Pau received in his first stay as a Barcelona player, but it was minimal. He exploded in that Copa del Rey when he was one of the homegrown players for whom the club was betting, with Aíto offering the alternative to young people like him, and that salary was one of the lowest in the squad. He spent two years since his debut in Cáceres, in that January 1999, as a professional but still with a record for the junior team.
In any case, in that first impulse, it did not exceed 250,000 euros, which at that time were still pesetas in Spain.
He quickly left for the US In 2001 the call came from the NBA and he did not renew his agreement with Barça, the club that raised him to a new level. In the United States, it is the place where Pau Gasol made his great fortune. Despite being drafted by the Hawks, it was the Grizzlies, thanks to a transfer, who welcomed that fine Spanish interior that followed in the footsteps of Fernando Martín.
The escalated rookie contract for him brought him about 13.8 million in those first four years. Nothing to do with those of now, much more voluminous thanks to the agreement of the League with television operators and the increase in salaries. In 2004 it was renewed and it was for six years, a contract not allowed today, at a rate of 86.5 million. Fulfilling that second agreement, he was transferred to the Lakers, the team with which he managed to raise the champion trophy on two occasions (2009 and 2010). In between the two Rings, he signed a veteran extension with Los Angeles that would begin to take effect in 2011 and would reach 2014, being in it in which he reached the highest economic amount of his career for only one season: 19, 2 in 2013/14. When choosing as a free agent he opted for the Bulls, with whom signed a 2 + 1 in which he did not exercise his player option in 2016. The next time he chose, he did it to go to Spurs. In San Antonio, 1 + 1, released after the first year and its last major contract: 48.8 million for three years. The Texans cut him off on a hard move for Pau, who went to the Bucks. There in Milwaukee, and later in Portland, minimum veteran. His last season was with the Blazers but in a testimonial way, since he could not get in shape after his foot injury and agreed to an exit with the franchise, so his contract was reduced to $ 460,000, the proportional part for the months he was in it.
On his return to Europe, as a Barça ambassador, he decided not to collect a salary and thus help the viability of the club and show that what he wanted was to get in shape for the Tokyo Olympics, his last dance, and not receive compensation for the favor that Sarunas Jasikevicius’ team was doing him. He did have to charge because it is mandatory, but only for mere legality: the minimum veteran, the proportional part of the 68,000 euros required by the ABP agreement with the ACB for all players. He didn’t keep them either, he donated them to charity later.
The account results a little more than 225 million dollars, about 194 million euros. All this in net, depending on the various taxes that have had to be found in the US states because in Barcelona it has had almost no influence on the total, since that sum does not reach half a million.
