Former Chicago Bulls: Veteran Pau Gasol contemplating retirement

A former All-Star power forward of the Chicago Bulls Pau Gasol seems to now be thinking about the possibility of retirement from the NBA.

A former star power forward of the Chicago Bulls, Pau Gasol, is currently trying to work his way back from injury. He had a bone injury that originally ailed him while he was playing with the San Antonio Spurs two seasons ago. Since then, he’s only played 30 games, with two different NBA teams (Spurs and the Milwaukee Bucks). Really his last good playing days in the NBA at a high level came during his two-year run with the Bulls.

But the former Bulls two-time All-Star big man is still trying to work his way back from injury and he’s not currently on an active roster. The last roster he was on was with the Portland Trail Blazers, but they waived him earlier this season. There was some discussion going that Gasol could stay on staff to coach with the Blazers, but that never came to fruition.

Now, Gasol is doing what the rest of the basketball world in the United States and most of Europe is, waiting to see what happens during the novel coronavirus pandemic. The outbreak of COVID-19 is spreading across Europe and the United States at the moment. And in the midst of that COVID-19 spread, Gasol gave an interview with Spanish media organization El Pais.

In that interview with El Pais, Gasol made it known that everything comes second right now to what’s happening with COVID-19 (as would be expected). He also gave an update to his injury situation, which he is taking day-by-day. And he opened up on potential plans for retirement from his NBA playing days.

At one point, he exclaimed that “retirement is definitely on my mind” (in translation).

Gasol is less than six months away from turning 40. He’s had a solid NBA career, that is definitely worthy of Hall-of-Fame induction. His Basketball-Reference Hall-of-Fame probability indicator sits above 93 percent currently. That is one of the 20 best on Basketball-Reference among active NBA players.

Moreover, Gasol is a six-time All-Star selection, four-time All-NBA honoree, two-time NBA Champion, and 2001-02 Rookie of the Year selection. He’s got a very decorated career that now spans nearly two decades.

It would be a shame to see Gasol go on such a bad note. He has yet to play in a single game this season, at least prior to the NBA hiatus due to COVID-19. But he seems to be working very hard and at least making some progress on his road to recovery. We’ll see if he decides to retire from the NBA whenever this hiatus is up and the 2019-20 season is over.