He was the ultimate wingman, the best supporting player, the perfect complement.
Pau Gasol spent his seven Lakers seasons in the shadow of Kobe Bryant, taking on raucous challenges, taking up trash talk and burying his own ego for his much more famous colleague in creating two NBA championships.
Every Lakers fan knew Bryant wasn’t wearing one. 8 and #24. Few knew Gasol wasn’t wearing one. 16
Until now. You know now. You will know forever. A stately reminder will hang from the rafters of the Crytpo.com arena where Gasol’s act was pulled Tuesday night for the most unlikely but understandable of reasons.
He was Kobe Bryant’s best teammate. He used their synergy to contribute to three of their greatest seasons. Those three consecutive trips to the NBA Finals from 2008 to 2010 resulted in those two titles.
Pau and Kobe are now a duo for eternity.
“Ko-be, Ko-be, Ko-be,” fans chanted.
“Pau-Gasol, Pau-Gasol”, the fans chanted.
When Gasol’s jersey was revealed in the arena’s rafters at halftime during the Lakers’ victory over the Memphis Grizzlies, it slowly emerged next to a jersey that belonged to Bryant. Gasol stood in midfield wearing a suit and two championship rings.
“I’m just overwhelmed to see all the faces here,” Gasol said in his seven-minute speech. “But I can’t go on without talking about the person and face I don’t see. The brother who lifted me up and challenged me to be a better player and a better man in general. I miss him as much as many of us. I love him, I wish he was here with Gigi.”
Gasol stared at the pair of illuminated sweaters that hung high in the dark arena.
“I love you, brother,” he said.
Fittingly, the ceremony began with a video introduction by Vanessa Bryant, who took the field for the first time since Kobe’s death.
“Pau is special… as a teammate, as a husband and as a friend,” she said.
She then drew attention to an old video of Bryant making a terrible prediction for Gasol tonight. Looks like Bryant has set the agenda for one more time in their relationship.
“When he retires, he’s going to have his number up,” Bryant said of Gasol in the video. “The Lakers don’t have those two championships without Pau…we know it, everyone knows it. I look forward to the day he speaks there downtown.”
It was a great brotherhood that started as a fight and ended in an embrace. It was a relationship that elevated a superstar and saved a dynasty.
When Gasol was sold to the Lakers in February 2008 in one of the best deals in basketball history—Mitch Kupchak actually stole him from Memphis for Kwame Brown and an untested Marc Gasol—Bryant was still upset about the team’s depleted roster .
Bryant called for a trade. He claimed another star. Last summer, he told strangers in the parking lot of a Newport Beach grocery store that if the Lakers didn’t do something to improve massively, he’d rather play Pluto.
Turns out it was Gasol who brought Bryant back to Earth. It was Gasol who kept Bryant in a Lakers uniform for the rest of his career. It was Gasol who helped the Lakers become Lakers again.
At some point, of course, he was schooled in the mamba mentality.
Gasol was a star in Memphis, but he wasn’t a champion. His teams have been swept in each of his three postseason series. He had a reputation for being pushed around in paint. People called him “Ga-sag”.
Bryant immediately pounced on the nickname. He worked with Gasol in a way he never could with Shaquille O’Neal. Gasol didn’t fight him, he hugged him. Gasol wasn’t stoned, he was swimming.
“[Kobe] definitely inspired me and showed me what it takes to be the best player he can be – the work ethic, the dedication, the mentality that comes with it,” said Gasol.
Bryant initially attacked his physicality, Gasol struggled and the turmoil got worse. Although the Lakers went 27-9 with Gasol for the rest of that first season, Bryant knew Gasol was not ready for the title and worked endlessly on him. Gasol endured Bryant harassing him during the 2008 Finals where he was bullied by Kevin Garnett. He stood up to Bryant, who knocked him out at the 2008 Olympics, and then taunted him by putting the U.S. gold medal in the Spanish team leader’s seat at the start of the 2008–09 training camp.
Gasol eventually toughened up to help the Lakers dominate in a 2009 playoff run that ended in a Finals victory in Orlando, then really became a factor in 2010.
He made it to the game-winning basket in the final seconds to earn a first round victory over Oklahoma City and then made it big in Game 7 of the Finals against the Celtics.
Staring at Garnett, he scored 19 points with 18 rebounds and two blocks. During a match where Bryant struggled, Gasol shone and the transformation was complete.
Before the start of the 2011–12 season, the Lakers attempted to send Gasol to Houston. The trade was famously turned down, but Gasol was deeply hurt and went on to play three more unremarkable Lakers seasons before leaving as a free agent.
But he’s back, finally valued for his contribution, finally admired for his contribution, honored as a worthy co-star to arguably the biggest star on the team.
They will now float together above the Lakers court they once shared with their liaison Pau Gasol, No. 16, next to Kobe Bryant, No. 24, just look up.
Source: LA Times