Pau Gasol was born in Barcelona on 6 July 1980. Barcelona is in Catalonia, which is part of Spain but has its own language, culture and some autonomoy within Spain. He is the sun of a hospital administrator and a doctor, but both his parents have a background of playing basketball in Spain.

Pau Gasol began playing basketball with his parents, especially his father, at an early age. At first he considered becoming a doctor like his mother, but it soon became clear that his talents and his career lay in basketball - he was playing seriously from the age of 7. He did start a degree in medicine in 1998, but in the same year was a key player in the Barcelona junior team when it won two major tournaments. Soon after, he gave up medicine to concentrate on his career with FC Barcelona. The Gasol family later moved to the US, where Pau became a star player.