On Tuesday against the Memphis Grizzlies, the Los Angeles Lakers will retire Pau Gasol’s No. 16 jersey.
It has been a long time coming, but he will finally be fully recognized for being a player who forever changed their fortunes.
When they traded for him on February 1, 2008, they were in a tailspin that had lasted ever since Shaquille O’Neal left in July 2004. Although they had started the 2007-08 season 26-11, they perhaps were a step short of being a true championship contender.
Center Andrew Bynum suffered a season-ending knee injury in mid-January, and L.A. struggled without him, meaning there was a very real possibility it would miss the playoffs for the second time since O’Neal’s departure.
On top of that, there was Kobe Bryant’s trade demand, which he hadn’t rescinded since making the previous summer.
But Gasol’s arrival was a watershed moment for him and the Lakers, as they instantly became a juggernaut. They struggled to score around 100 points a game without Bynum, but with the Spaniard on board, they sprouted to approximately 110 a game, which was a ton back in those days.
The Lakers instantly reached the NBA Finals three straight times while winning back-to-back world championships, including one over the hated Boston Celtics.
Yet, many Lakers fans incessantly dogged Gasol throughout his tenure with the team.
Gasol may be the most underappreciated Lakers star ever
In six and a half seasons with the Purple and Gold, Gasol averaged 17.7 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.4 blocked shots per game while shooting 52.2 percent from the field.
Yet, plenty of Lakers fans often criticized him for supposedly being soft and lazy because of his finesse style of basketball.
But the truth is that Gasol played with plenty of passion in L.A., especially during those three runs to the championship series.
Perhaps the zenith of his career came in Game 7 of the 2010 NBA Finals versus Boston when he grabbed 18 rebounds and blocked two shots while coming through offensively in the decisive fourth quarter to help the lakers win, 83-79.
Soft players do not grab 18 rebounds in the seventh game of a world championship, especially against the Celtics.
On Tuesday, Gasol will take his rightful place alongside O’Neal, George Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the rafters of Crypto.com Arena. Perhaps in a few months, he will also be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Perhaps now Lakers fans will permanently give him his full due.
