Spain's chances of upsetting Team USA at the forthcoming Olympics have taken an unmistakable hit with the news that All-Star big man Marc Gasol will be unable to play in the Summer Games in Rio.
Sources confirmed to ESPN on Tuesday that Gasol, as feared, is not yet fully healed from the broken right foot that limited him to 52 games last season with the Memphis Grizzlies.
Two Spanish outlets -- Libertad and ABC -- reported earlier Tuesday that Gasol, despite his inclusion on Spain's preliminary Olympic roster, will not be joining older brother Pau Gasol on the Spanish front line.
Team USA has beaten Spain in the past two Olympic gold-medal showdowns in Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012, but both games were close in the fourth quarter until the Americans secured narrower-than-expected victories.
The latter of those two matchups was particularly frustrating for Marc Gasol, who was hit with four first-half fouls in the title game at London 2012 and wound up logging just 17 minutes of floor time in a 109-100 defeat.
In a hugely disappointing performance as hosts of the 2014 FIBA World Cup, Spain failed to reach even the medal round on home soil. But the Spaniards recovered to win the 2015 Eurobasket title and remain widely regarded as the closest thing to a worthy challenger to Team USA in Rio alongside France.
