Catalan brothers become first siblings to both win NBA crown

Marc Gasol follows in older brother Pau's footsteps by claiming US league title and making basketball history

Catalan basketball player Marc Gasol celebrating his triumph with Toronto Raptors on June 13, 2019 (by Cary Edmondson/Reuters)
Catalan basketball player Marc Gasol celebrating his triumph with Toronto Raptors on June 13, 2019 (by Cary Edmondson/Reuters) / ACN

ACN | Barcelona

June 14, 2019 12:00 PM

The Gasol brothers made basketball history on Thursday, when Pau's younger sibling Marc claimed his first NBA title with the Toronto Raptors in Oakland in the US.

Pau already has two championship wins with the Los Angeles Lakers, and Marc's success now makes them the first pair of brothers to have both won an NBA title.

Marc's victory, which saw his team beat the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors 114-110, comes 10 years after his older brother Pau won his first title.

"Nothing is impossible"

Speaking after the historic win, Marc said that he hoped the achievement would help to show young people that "nothing is impossible."

Anyone looking for an unlikely success story need look no further than these brothers from Sant Boi de Llobregat, in Barcelona's outskirts, who both made the step up to the world’s greatest professional basketball league.

Pau was the first to make the move across the Atlantic, to play for the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001, the same team his younger brother would first play for when he followed in 2008.

During his time playing in the NBA, Pau has become established as one of the world's top basketball players and, apart from his titles wins, is a six-time NBA All-Star.

A three-time NBA All-Star, and now a title winner himself, Marc seems to be well on his way to matching his older brother's achievements in world basketball.