BARCELONA - Spanish basketball great Marc Gasol retired from the sport on Jan 31 after an impressive career spanning 20 professional seasons, including 13 in the National Basketball Association (NBA).

The treble NBA all-star player, who lifted the championship with the Toronto Raptors in 2019, is the younger brother of two-time NBA winner Pau Gasol, who retired in October 2021.

“It’s the moment to take a step to the side and share everything basketball has taught me and has given me,” Marc Gasol told a press conference.

“It was time for me to do it, if I kept playing it could have had some serious consequences (physically).”

The 39-year-old centre started his career at hometown team Barcelona in 2003, winning a league title in his debut season.

Gasol went to CB Girona and propelled his career forward by triumphing in the World Cup with Spain in 2006 and again in 2019, as well as winning European Championships in 2009 and 2011.

He signed for the Grizzlies in 2008 as part of a trade that sent brother Pau Gasol to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Marc Gasol spent 13 years in the United States, also playing for the Lakers in 2020-21.

Gasol returned to play for the club he founded in 2014, Basquet Girona, back in Catalonia, between 2021 and 2023.

After playing through injury last season he decided not to form part of the squad for the current campaign. AFP