Pau Gasol is one of the NBA voices who have spoken out on social issues, especially racial injustice. He made that clear in July 2020, responding to George Floyd's killing just weeks earlier.
The former Los Angeles Lakers star condemned the mindset that allowed officer Derek Chauvin to kneel on Floyd's neck, calling it "totally normal" in Chauvin's view and "unacceptable" in reality.
Growing up in Spain, Gasol said he had never experienced stark racial divisions. That changed when he moved to the US and began his tenure in the league with the Memphis Grizzlies .
"I was very young, but I soon understood and learned what segregation was," said Gasol, per Sports Illustrated.
Gasol quickly saw that Memphis was a city where communities were "very separated." He noted that while segregation exists nationwide, it felt especially stark in the South, where the divide is "much more present."
At the same time, Gasol saw a different reality unfolding at his workplace. Most of the NBA players were — and still are — Black, yet Gasol felt everyone got along, regardless of their skin color.
"We are all teammates, brothers," the Hall of Famer said. "We don't see people because of their race. We want to transfer that respect to society."
Floyd's murder, widely viewed as a brutal case of racial bias, made the issue deeply personal for Gasol. Seeing the camaraderie and respect across races in the NBA, Floyd's death underscored for him just how far the country — soon to erupt in the "Black Lives Matter" protests — still falls short of those values.
Gasol's frustration was palpable and it was directed squarely at the person responsible — Chauvin.
In late May 2020, Chauvin had knelt on Floyd's neck for nealry nine minutes, even as Floyd — who had previously been arrested for allegedly passing counterfeit money — repeatedly pleaded that he couldn't breathe. Chauvin was later sentenced to 22 and a half years in prison for unintentional second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.
Reflecting on what could have been a routine arrest, Gasol said the thing that bothered and frustrated him most was "to see how that officer thinks and feels that he's doing something totally normal — his job — putting his knee over the neck of George Floyd."
" He (Chauvin) thinks he is acting with justification and that the law protects him. And that can't happen. It's unacceptable," added the two-time FIBA EuroBasket MVP.
Gasol noted that his stance put him alongside NBA figures like Steve Kerr and Gregg Popovich, respected coaches who, after Floyd's death, spoke out for accountability, reform and against systemic racism on and off the court.
"Zero tolerance for racism," Gasol underlined, emphasizing that real change begins, in part, with trying to understand and relate to others.
"We haven't listened enough," he said. "We all must change this situation and the change should be real."
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 30, 2025, where it first appeared in the Off The Court section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
