SHANGHAI—Marc Gasol remembers the day the coveted invitation to join Spain’s storied national basketball program arrived in the mail. He was maybe 14 or 15 years old at the time.
“(Me and my friends) were all very excited, and we all called each other on the house phone — we didn’t have any cellphones back then — we all asked our friends if they got the letter too. We were all so thrilled when we got it,” Gasol said.
The Toronto Raptors centre told the story Tuesday just moments after lifting Spain to a 90-78 victory over Poland and into the semifinals of the FIBA World Cup.