By Dionysis Aravantinos / info@eurohoops.net
BEIJING – Spain has won the FIBA Basketball World Cup after defeating Argentina in the final. That by itself, it’s pretty impressive. Marc Gasol’s feat, however, is even more impressive. In a span of three months, he won the FIBA World Cup and an NBA championship. He became the first player since Lamar Odom (2010), to win both trophies in the same year.
“It’s been a good three months”, he said jokingly. “I’m very happy and fortunate. I’m blessed to be in this position”.
When asked on if the Gasol brothers will be in Tokyo, Japan for the 2020 Olympics, Gasol didn’t make any promises: “At this point in your career, you don’t know. You want to be there, you hope to be there, but you’re not gonna make any promises. Potentially this could be my last World Cup”.
But before that, he had a more than an important message: “Tomorrow the sun will come up again, the world will keep going and we get to be world champions. But basketball is not that important as the message we can send to younger generations and inspire them to be good people. That’s the most important thing”.
Photo Credit: FIBA.Basketball