NBA All-Star: Gasol Brothers Set For a Glorious Meeting

It’s perhaps the most mixed feeling in the world. It’s brings out the most unforgettable joy and memories, while also drawing the most heated, earnest competition an athlete can have.

Brother vs. Brother. Younger sibling vs. older sibling. On a professional level.

That’s a rare feat of its own, especially for the parents involved. Regardless of how successful you are as parents in your own occupation or career path, it’s still virtually impossible to get two of your children morphing into NBA players. 60 players from around the globe are drafted every year. One family gets two of their boys into the league, succeeding on both the individual and team levels?

None of it is realistic to 99 percent of human families out there. That’s why this is a special day.

Sure, some families can sit back and reminisce on the day two of their sons got drafted. It’s happened before. However, when do you have the chance to see them grow into All-Stars during the same year?

Agusti and Marisa Gasol experience it to this day. Their sons, Pau and Marc Gasol, now have seven total All-Star appearances between them, as they get set to face each other for the first time in the February showcase.

On the NBA regular season level, the two have been opponents on 19 different occasions, with Pau getting the upper hand in almost every component:

Pau Gasol had been an All-Star four times before this year, ranging from 2006 to 2011 — when he was a championship caliber power forward that could carry a frontcourt every night. He took three years off from the All-Star activities because he failed to get voted in. Age, physical decline, lost of interest in the Lakers, and terrible coaching flipped Pau upside down. He was in the midst of despondency, not adhering to his old defensive standards, and losing confidence every game Mike D’Antoni decided to bench him down the stretch.

Marc, on the other hand, had only been an All-Star one previous year before 2015. His selection came in 2012, which truly signified the shifting of power between the Gasol brothers. Marc’s Grizzlies started their surge to a homecourt seed in the West playoffs, going down to the wire in Game 7 of a first round series with Chris Paul‘s “Lob City” Clippers. Memphis was sent home, but it was just the beginning of something new in Marc’s career.

In 2012, for the first time since both were in the same professional league, Marc had been the centerpiece on a title contender. Pau was now the one scavenging to stay alive within the West, playing alongside an irritated and impatient Kobe Bryant.

Marc had never played with a teammate that possessed Bryant’s ball-demanding personality, or established legacy. Along with their body frames, eating habits, high school grades, and dream jobs, that is something Pau and Marc will never have in common. Only one of them has been the second-fiddle to such an aggressive attitude and polarizing figure.

Since Memphis’ epic turnaround in 2011, Marc has led the Grizzlies to countless, memorable playoff moments. From knocking off San Antonio in the first round as an eight seed, to being four wins away from an NBA Finals appearance in 2013, to nearly dethroning the No. 2 seeded Thunder last season, Memphis has been quite the thriller with Marc in the middle.

After Marc went down with an MCL sprain in November 2014, the Grizzlies managed to go just 10-14 in 24 games without their starting center. Upon  Marc returning, Memphis went an astounding 33-13 in the final 46 games of the season. It resulted in the Grizzlies winning enough games (50) to clinch a seventh seed, as they worked their tails off once their foundation returned from injury.

Before Marc’s injury last year (12 games), the Grizzlies ranked 15th in the league in defensive rating, allowing 102.2 points per 100 possessions. In the time that he missed (24 games), the team plummeted to 26th in defensive rating, at 106.7. Once he returned (46 games), Memphis sky-rocketed to 2nd overall in the metric, holding teams to just 99.7 points per 100 possessions. It was the weirdest season of shifting I’ve ever witnessed.

While little brother Marc has went through his share of positives and negatives in the last two years, big brother Pau done the exact same. It’s just been a rockier road, with the former medical student making the hardest choice he’s ever been faced with in his life.

Either remain loyal to the Los Angeles Lakers, a franchise that has done nothing but figuratively spit in your face for the last four years … or do what’s best for your individual career.

Pau had been the headliner of the most trade rumors within four years of anyone in the league. It wasn’t even close. Immediately after the three-way trade for Chris Paul failed to make it through David Stern’s system, Pau had felt uneasy. The trade would’ve sent Pau to the Houston Rockets, Chris Paul to the Lakers, and Lamar Odom to the Hornets. It would’ve completely split up the 2009 & 2010 championship trio Phil Jackson had formed. Pau, Bryant, and Odom had something special that extended beyond basketball, and the trade wasn’t ideal in the minds of Gasol or Odom.

After the dust settled, Odom wanted out. He walked into Mitch Kupchak‘s office and practically demanded a trade to a contending franchise, since he knew his efforts weren’t being respected any longer.

Pau had too much heart and pride in the Lakers organization — a group that brought him away from the Memphis culture that didn’t compete in the playoffs and helped guide him to championship glory. He didn’t ask to leave. That’s not how a Gasol operates.

Pau works with the utmost sincerity in the team he’s battling for, and you literally have to be the worst management staff on Earth to push the polite Spaniard out of the door. Los Angeles was pushing that description.

Rumors went on (even while Gasol was on flights with the team) for three more years. Off and on, day by day. There was no security offered to Pau himself that specifically said “You’re our guy, and we want you here for good.”  It was truly “another day, another rumor” that swirled through media outlets.

At the end of his contract with the Lakers in summer 2014, enough became enough. It had been the first time since growing unhappy that Pau actually had the choice in his hands.

Very quickly, in the matter of a year, the tables had turned. Now, it was Kupchak and Jim Buss meeting with Pau with a sorry sentiment, asking him to stay.

Pau took the high road for himself personally, and ditched an unbelievably bad situation. He had just e Lakers with 17.4 points and 9.7 rebounds per game, on 48 percent shooting, in the midst of a 27-55 season. It came without Bryant, who watched his friend take over the team while rehabbing a torn Achilles and fractured knee.

When the Chicago Bulls came calling, it wasn’t a question Pau even needed to answer. Everyone knew he had special talent left in the tank, and everyone was aware he wanted to contend for a third title. Chicago, Oklahoma City, and San Antonio presented that scenario for Pau. All three of those franchises will likely be in the playoffs this coming April.

He couldn’t have picked a wrong destination …. unless he remained in Hollywood. If the most die-hard, lifelong Lakers fans out there basically admit that the franchise treated him like rubbish, it’s clear cut. To take the two-year, $20 million deal the Lakers offered him last summer would’ve been wrong for everything Pau stands for. As the Lakers currently sit at 13-40, it’s even more evident now.

In Chicago, the 34-year-old Pau has found his old, dominant self on the offensive side. Not only is the team sitting at third in the Eastern Conference, on pace for a 52-win season, but he appears more joyful than he’s been since June 2010. After repeating with the Lakers in a war against Boston, that’s the last time Pau has looked so invested and dedicated to basketball. His mind isn’t teetering, and there’s no rumblings of coaching issues on how he’s being used.

On January 10, after coming off a tw0-game losing streak and being held under 15 points, Pau completely lost control. He went berserk offensively on Milwaukee in the United Center. Scoring 46 points, grabbing 18 rebounds, and going 17-of-30 from the field is what Pau had up his sleeve on that incredible Saturday evening.

It was only the fourth time in NBA history a player has went for 46 points, 18 boards, 17 field goals, and 12 made free throws in a game. The other three players to accomplish it were Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal, and Karl Malone. All four of them came out with a team victory. You won’t find better company than that group. It hadn’t been done since March 2000, nearly 15 years ago.

Both Pau and Marc Gasol have accomplished spectacular feats this season. But, it shouldn’t overshadow the careers both of them have made out of the NBA. Neither of them were supposed to be here. Pau was destined to be the next great Spanish doctor. Marc was never able to get himself conditioned enough to play professional ball.

Growing into the All-Stars they are tonight, on the most chilling Sunday night of their lives, is what we need to appreciate. Only one other set of brothers has ever made the All-Star team in the same year (Tom and Dick Van Arsdale).

The difference is, Pau and Marc will be jumping against each other. They represent the best big men in their respective conferences. Period.

Although the process isn’t perfect, let’s thank the fans for getting these votes correct. This is how it should be for these two guys.

Unlike the competitive fire they normally share during head-to-head battles …. tonight is different. It’s a celebration of something we’ve never had the chance to see.

Pau and Marc deserve to be here. The journey of brothers creates a new chapter.