Sports writing (EFE).- The Spanish center Pau Gasol will be inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame on August 12 by Kareem Abdul-Jabar and Toni Kukoc as announced this Thursday.
On Wednesday, the NBA announced that Croatian Kukoc, who played between 1993 and 2006 for the Chicago Bulls -with whom he was a three-time NBA champion-, Philadelphia 76ers, Atlanta Hawks and Milwaukee Bucks, would be in charge of presenting Gasol in the ceremony that will take place at Symphony Hall in the town of Springfield.
This Thursday, the Hall of Fame added the name of Abdul-Jabar, the legendary Lakers center, to that of Kukoc in Gasol’s presentation.
Also inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Aug. 12 ceremony are players Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker and Dwayne Wade, the 1976 women’s Olympic team and coaches Gregg Popovich and Becky Hoammon.
Pau Gasol, Spanish legend in the NBA
Gasol, double NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers, played 18 seasons in the NBA, in which he played, in addition to the Los Angeles team, with the Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and Portland Trail Blazers.
Rookie of the year in 2002, in the regular season, the Spanish center played 1,226 games in the NBA (1,150 of them as a starter) and averaged 17 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.6 blocks per game.
In the postseason, Gasol played in 136 games (122 starting in the starting five) and averaged 15.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.7 blocks.
These figures over 18 seasons place him among the best European players in NBA history.