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Pau Gasol entered the NBA in 2001 from Spain. He was the third overall pick in the 2001 draft by the Atlanta Hawks and then traded to the Memphis Grizzlies.
Since then, Gasol has won two NBA championships and made $220,990,766 through NBA contracts, per Spotrac.
The first NBA contract Pau Gasol signed was his rookie deal with the Grizzlies. It was a three-year, $8.78 million contract. Gasol made $2,970,840 during his rookie season while averaging 17.6 points and 8.9 rebounds. He won the Rookie of the Year Award.
In his second season, Gasol averaged 19.0 points and 8.8 boards. He earned $3,193,680. It appeared the Spaniard was going to be an All-Star fairly soon for the Grizzlies.
With that said, it was a no brainer for Memphis to exercise Gasol's third-year option worth $2,618,395. Pau averaged 17.7 points and 7.7 rebounds in 2003-04.
In September of 2004, the Grizzlies rewarded Pau Gasol for his stellar play in his first three years in the NBA by signing him to a six-year, $86.5 million rookie extension. The contract was set to kick in during the 2005-06 season but Gasol and the Grizzlies couldn't skip past the 2004-05 campaign.
While making $4,318,481, Gasol averaged 17.8 points and 7.3 rebounds in 2004-05. He finally made his first All-Star team in 2005-06. That was a good year for Pau. He made $10,993,000 from the Grizzlies and put up 20.4 points and 8.9 boards.
He wasn't going to win a title in Memphis but Gasol was showcasing his skills for other teams, one of those teams being the Los Angeles Lakers.
In February of 2008, the Lakers acquired Pau Gasol from the Grizzlies, giving Kobe Bryant the second star he needed to win a championship. Gasol made $13,735,000 in 2007-08 and put up 18.8 points and 7.8 rebounds in 27 games with the Lakers following his trade from Memphis.
In his first full season with Los Angeles, Gasol made $15,106,000 and finished the regular season with averages of 18.9 points and 9.6 rebounds. The Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic in the 2009 Finals to give Kobe his fourth championship and Pau his first.
In December of 2009, the Lakers signed Gasol to a three-year, $57 million veteran extension. Bryant and Pau repeated as champions in 2010 by taking down the Boston Celtics in seven games. Pau made $16,452,000 during the 2009-10 season.
After the Lakers won the title in 2010, though, things began to change in Los Angeles. Pau Gasol ended up leaving the Lakers in the summer of 2014 as a free agent to sign with the Chicago Bulls. He signed a three-year, $22.3 million deal with the Bulls.
During the 2014-15 season, Gasol made $7,128,000 and helped the Bulls get to the second round of the playoffs. He made the All-Star team as well and finished the season with averages of 18.5 points and 11.8 rebounds.
The future Hall of Famer made $7,448,760 in his second and final year with the Bulls. Gasol decided to decline his 2016-17 player-option with Chicago and resume his playing career with the San Antonio Spurs.
Pau Gasol signed a two-year, $31.7 million contract with the Spurs in the summer of 2016. He made $15,500,000 during the 2016-17 season and averaged 12.4 points and 7.8 rebounds in 64 games.
The following season, Gasol put up 10.1 points and 8.0 boards while making $16 million.
The 2018-19 season was a tough one for Gasol. He appeared in just 30 games with the Spurs and Milwaukee Bucks. San Antonio waived Pau in March of 2019, allowing him to sign with a contender such as the Bucks. The man they used to call the Meal Ticket only played in three games with Milwaukee before his foot injury started acting up again.
In the summer of 2019, Pau Gasol signed with the Portland Trail Blazers on a one-year deal worth $2.56 million. However, he was never able to recover from the same foot injury which haunted him in San Antonio and Milwaukee and was waived by the Blazers in November.
Pau Gasol has career NBA averages of 17.0 points and 9.2 rebounds. He will be a future Hall-of-Famer one day but hopefully, Gasol can play one more season before calling it quits.
