The Argentine basketball icon Luis Scola considers retiring after the Olympics, since the passage of time does not fool anyone. At 41, the captain of the Albiceleste team faces his last great tournament in the colors of his country and aims for a prompt retirement, although he does not want to give either epic or dramatic overtones to the matter.
“I am 41 years old, it is very clear that I will retire very soon, but I do not think of this as my farewell., I do not put a quota of drama or importance that I think it does not have “, explained Scola in an extensive interview published in Clarín. “It is an Olympic Games, it is important like the other four I played, but it is not the finishing touch; It is one more tournament in which I want to do well ”.
The former Gijón and Baskonia player, where he spent seven years of his extensive career, says he is not concerned about the results in this last major tournament: “My career is already done, it is diluted in a lot of things, good and bad. In that sense, I cannot give the last tournament, the last game or the last result an importance that it does not have ”.
In an interesting comparison exercise, Scola compared her situation to that of Michael Jordan and his last dance. “Was Jordan’s last game shooting in 1998? No, it was one in Washington. And nothing changes. You don’t need the epic ending for your trajectory to be bad or good “explained the Argentine star in the interview.
The inner veteran claims that Argentina will aspire to the medals if they do a good preparation and then they manage to complete a good group stage thinking about the quarter-final crosses.
Scola, who played 10 seasons in the NBA, said he would be excited to play against Luka Doncic in the group stage, where Slovenia would land if it manages to qualify for the Olympic tournament this Sunday. The Argentine captain, current Pallacanestro Varese player, has a record that makes you dizzy.
Before his last Olympic appointment, his medal table is full of metals: 2004 Athens gold, 2008 Beijing bronze, two World Cup silver (2002, 2019) and nine FIBA Americas medals, including two golds in 2001 and 2011. In total he has won 16 at the highest level.
At the club level, Scola achieved an ACB League in 2002, three King’s Cups (02.04.06) and three Spanish Super Cups (05,06,07), in addition to accumulating two MVPs of the season with Baskonia.