The Los Angeles Lakers are one of the NBA’s most storied franchises. Having won 17 NBA championships and gone to the NBA Finals 32 times since their inception as the Minneapolis Lakers, fans have come to associate winning with the franchise over the years.
To win championships, you need players whose sole focus is to win. That’s something the Lakers haven’t been short on in their history. They’ve had great players like the late Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Magic Johnson, and Elgin Baylor, amongst others. All of the names mentioned have their numbers retired and all of them are Hall of Famers.
On Tuesday night, the Lakers added another jersey to the rafters above Crypto.com Arena. Pau Gasol’s number 16 will now take its place in Lakers lore.
Pau Gasol’s Contributions to LA
Pau Gasol began the first seven and a half seasons of his NBA career with the Memphis Grizzlies, before eventually being traded to the Lakers in 2008. The swap changed both Gasol and the Lakers for the better, and helped usher in a second championship window out West.
In what became one of the most-talked-about trades of all-time, on February 1st, 2008, the Grizzlies traded Pau Gasol and a second-round pick in exchange for Kwame Brown, Javaris Critenton, Aaron McKie, the rights to draft Marc Gasol, and two first-round draft picks.
Superstars change teams all the time in the modern NBA. What set this deal apart wasn’t so much that Gasol went to Los Angeles, but rather the fact that he was available in the first place. Executives around the league were shocked to learn that the Spaniard was on the trade block, and couldn’t believe that the Grizzlies front office wouldn’t have made that public knowledge in order to drive up the price.
But Memphis’ folly was LA’s gain, as the reigning FIBA Europe Player of the Year went from Tennessee to California to begin the next chapter of his professional career.
Prior to joining the Purple and Gold, Gasol was averaging 18.9 points, 8.8 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, and 50.1% field goal shooting through the first 39 games of the 2007-2008 regular season. After joining Kobe Bryant and company, Gasol averaged 18.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.6 blocks, and a career-high 58.9% field goal shooting in the final 27 regular-season contests that year.
The Lakers reached the 2008 NBA Finals with Kobe and Pau as their one-two punch. Unfortunately, a trio of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen, and Paul Pierce was too much for the Lakers as the Boston Celtics edged LA in six games. Gasol, for his part, averaged 16.9 points, 10.8 rebounds, two blocks, and 53% field goal shooting.
The Lakers came back with a vengeance the next two seasons- winning two straight NBA championships including the 2010 championship against the Celtics that reached a Game Seven. And while fans and analysts generally associate the team’s string of success with Kobe Bryant, it’s undeniable that the Lakers wouldn’t have been a championship-winning team if they didn’t trade for Pau Gasol.
Gasol remained in Hollywood until 2014. By then, he already accumulated 7,610 points, 4,240 rebounds, 1,508 assists, 607 blocks, and 329 steals with the Lakers. He also scored multiple game-winning shots for the club, compiling a 278-151 all-time record with the Spanish big man.
The Kobe-Pau Tandem
More than the numbers and the wins Pau Gasol helped deliver during his stay in Los Angeles, his close relationship with the great Kobe Bryant resonated the brightest amongst the fanbase. Gasol said Kobe Bryant welcomed him to the Lakers at 1:30 AM. And after losing to the Celtics and to the United States in the Olympics, Bryant said to Gasol, “Let’s not make it three in a row for you.”
The rest was history.
The Bryants and Pau became closer as the years went by. But that closeness became even more apparent when the world lost Kobe and his daughter Gigi, along with seven others, in a helicopter accident in 2020. Since then, Pau has been seen bonding with the Bryant family- especially with Kobe’s daughters- a fulfilment of a promise he made to his teammate long ago.
While we all have different opinions on whether or not Pau Gasol deserved his number 16 retired by the Lakers, one cannot take away his contributions to the franchise and to the NBA. His contributions extend well beyond the basketball court, and he’s remained a strong ambassador for the club even in retirement.
He may not have been the first European big man to join the NBA ranks, but he was certainly one of the most visible ones throughout the late 2000’s and early 2010’s.
-Iggy Gonzales
Photo: Howcheng. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.