Gasol, who was part of the Spain side that won silver medals at Beijing 2008 and London 2012 and Rio 2016, has been out of action for the past year due to a stress fracture in his left foot but is hoping to be fit to be part of his country's squad for the rearranged Tokyo 2020 Olympics in the summer of 2021.

He was absent from Spain's World Cup triumph last year in China because of the foot injury.

In an interview with The Olympic Channel  Gasol said his main aim at the moment was to be part of the Spanish squad at Tokyo 2020.

"I was hoping before everything changed and got postponed or cancelled that I was going to have enough time to heal my injury to get in an appropriate shape to be able to compete and play and still, at 40 years old, play my fifth Olympics this summer in Tokyo," Gasol said.

"Now I have more time to recover, but I will have to play competitively in order to get to the summer of 2021 at a high level and be able to compete and help my country, which is not a bad thing. 

"But the truth of it is that, in summer 2021 I'll be 41 which is a challenge. 

"It is something that might excite me, being a very challenge-driven person and always very ambitious.

"It is very much still a desire to be able to play my fifth Olympics and potentially that being my very last tournament."

Gasol, who is a candidate for the International Olympic Committee Athletes Commission at Tokyo 2020, carried the Spanish flag at the London 2012 Olympic Games Opening Ceremony.

Gasol, a double National Basketball Association (NBA) champion with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2009 and 2010 alongside the late Kobe Bryant, said that the current lockdown in his home country of Spain was not helping his recovery efforts.

"I can't access everything I need to access in order to move with my rehab and recovery as I had planned," Gasol said.

"I think everything has been delayed and kind of postponed in a way.

"Even though I'm buying myself more time, there's tests that I can't do because I'm in quarantine. 

"It's just kind of delayed the process a little bit but I'm still trying to control what I can control, continue to do what I can do from home.

"Once I'm able to do more, I will.

"Because I need to see doctors, I need to see a therapist.

"But right now, I'm not able to see and luckily there's phones and you can send routines and workouts and videos and instructions through the phone or through a computer, but it's not the same.

"I'm just trying to focus on the positives, try to focus on what I can control and try to do the best I can. 

"Then when I'm able to do the other things, I will do them. 

"Hopefully it's helping me.

"It's just giving me a little more time for the bone to heal and get strong."

Gasol's home country of Spain is the second worst affected by coronavirus, with more than 157,000 reported cases and more than 15,000 reported fatalities, and the four-time Olympian said he was inspired by all those battling the disease on the frontline.

"The care workers, the first responders, the nurses and doctors that are working extremely hard right now through the crisis of the coronavirus are extremely inspiring," Gasol said.

"People that work around the clock putting themselves at risk for the better of their peers and society and their countries and their communities - those people are inspiring. 

"People that are trying to figure out a way, whether it's from the medical field, from the scientific world, from the Government, from everyone's position.

"If you do everything that you can in order to contribute something bigger than yourself, that's inspiring to me. 

"So all those things are inspiring. 

"We have just got to really do that in order to get out of this crisis the best way we can."