The last time Pau Gasol set foot in this pavilion as a local player, he spent a quiet night. It was in April 2014. He played 28 minutes and scored nine points. He couldn’t prevent the Lakers from falling to the Blazers, the team that would sign the Catalan years later without him playing a single minute for those in Portland, due to a foot injury. On Tuesday (early Wednesday morning in Spain), the Sant Boi man returned to the Staples Center, currently known as the crypto.com Sand. He wore a smart navy blue suit and a dark purple tie. On this occasion, he no longer wore number 16 of the Lakers, which he wore for six and a half seasons. As of Tuesday, the number no longer belongs to him as it hangs next to those of other legends on the pitch. The Los Angeles team retired the center jersey, in addition to 12 other numbers from 11 players.

“I just want to thank you for making me feel so special. It was an honor to wear this jersey,” said an emotional Gasol, who couldn’t help but cry when he finally saw his number. in the stands with those of Elgin Baylor, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Jerry West, Charles Goodrich, Jamaal Wilkes, James Worthy, Shaquille O’Neal, Earvin Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant.

“I would love Kobe to be here with Gigi,” Gasol, 42, said of the star, who died with his daughter and seven others in a helicopter crash in January 2020. “Kobe predicted that you and him they would be in the stands together,” said Vanessa, the NBA icon’s widow. His words were followed by a brief message the Lakers star delivered at the 2018 Oscars luncheon. “The reality is that I wouldn’t have won those championships [de 2009 y 2010] without Paul. Los Angeles would not have these two championships without Pau Gasol,” Bryant told Efe reporter Antonio Martín on that occasion. Kobe’s two numbers, 8 and 24, are now immortalized along with Gasol’s 16.

The center recalled on Tuesday how Bryant was a figure who pushed him to surpass himself. Gasol arrived in Los Angeles midway through the 2007–08 season. In June, he played his first NBA Finals. But he was surpassed by the physical strength of the Celtics, who beat them in Game 6. That same summer, Gasol and Bryant met as enemies in the Beijing Games final. The Americans stayed with gold (107-118). At the turn of the summer, Kobe took the medal to the Lakers locker room. She wanted Gasol to see her. “You lost to the Celtics, you lost to us, we’re going to make sure it’s not three straight losses for you,” Bryant joked to him. The Lakers have won two titles in a row after this episode (they have 15). Legendary coach Phil Jackson, who was in attendance at Tuesday’s event at the Crypto, said Gasol brought “his attacking prowess” to the team, which was an attacking machine. Barcelona’s averaged 18 points per game at that time.

“As a kid, I always dreamed of playing in the NBA, but never in a million years would I have thought this moment would come,” added the center, who hours earlier had confessed to spending the last few days trying. to have fun so as not to think too much about the tribute. . Among these activities was a dinner with several of his teammates from the Spanish team whom he has known since their teenage years: Felipe Reyes, Raúl López, Juan Carlos Navarro and José Calderón. “He had a very busy few days, but we had a few laughs,” Reyes said after the game.

Gasol was supported by his parents, Agustí and Marisa; his brothers, Marc and Adriá; his wife, Catherine McDonnell, their two children, Lakers owner Jeanie Buss and team vice-president Rob Pelinka. In the stands were other familiar faces from Los Angeles, including actor Adam Sandler and members of the musical group Red Hot Chilli Peppers.

The tribute took place at halftime of the regular season game between the Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies, a team for which Gasol played for six and a half seasons, and where he achieved one of his first milestones in the United States, being declared recruits of the year in 2002. He was the first non-American to achieve this. But Tuesday’s game highlighted one of the Catalan centre’s many achievements. Among the fifth starting players on the field, only two were foreign, the Canadian Dillon Brooks, of the Grizzlies, and the German Dennis Schroder, of the Lakers. Gasol was the second Spaniard to reach the NBA, after Fernando Martín. He has now become the first international player to retire his jersey in one of basketball’s most competitive franchises.

“It was like a movie, I’m proud to believe it was a very good movie. A lot of very good things happened in my life,” Gasol said in a press conference before the start of the game. . Wearing the two championship rings he won in a row, he reviewed the milestones of his career in the United States. He was chosen by Atlanta in third place in the disorganized of 2001, what he called an “unexpected achievement” that helped him take off in the tight league.

Gasol admitted that he feels responsible for contributing to the foundation of the Grizzlies. He landed in Memphis at age 19, just as the team traded Vancouver for the United States with a dismal record of 23 wins this season. When he left, he left the team with nearly 50 wins. Mike Fratello, his coach at the time, attended the tribute this afternoon from the stands. His transfer is remembered in Los Angeles as one of the most successful. This allowed his brother Marc to reach Memphis, who will also see his shirt retired after a successful 10-year career and championship with Toronto. The gap that the Gasols have created is undeniable. Currently, there are six Spaniards in the NBA. One of them, Santi Aldama, scored 11 points for Memphis on Tuesday.

Gasol’s values ​​and personality off the pitch were also discussed on his special night. “He’s an angel on earth,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said. “It’s a pleasure to talk to him because we can talk about things that are happening in the world, not just basketball,” added the coach, who is looking to save the season without the star of the team, LeBron James, injured and without a date of return to competition. The Lakers, who won Tuesday’s game, also highlighted the humanitarian profile of Gasol, who chairs the Gasol Childhood Obesity Foundation with his brother Marc. On the same ground where he triumphed years ago, the former player has promised to keep fighting. “To whom we give a lot, we expect a lot from him. And I will continue to dedicate my life to impacting others and making a difference. To inspire and help make this world a better and healthier place,” the player concluded during a special evening for Spanish sport.

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