The Los Angeles Lakers retired Tuesday evening the number 16 of the Spaniard, twice champion with Los Angeles in 2009 and 2010. His jersey will remain in the Crypto.com Arena, right next to that of his friend Kobe Bryant.
Epic music in the speakers, the lights of thousands of mobile phones pointed at this black curtain which descends gently, revealing this number 16 which he has worn throughout his career. Pau Gasol looks up there above the stands of the Crypto.com Arena. And the tears flow. At half time of match between the Lakers, the franchise of its finest hours in the NBA, and the Memphis Grizzlieshis first team in the League, the 42-year-old Spaniard, unsure whether his legs would carry him through the ceremony, officially joined eleven other legends in the “Purple and Gold” pantheon.
His emotion comes from this beautiful tribute that few players, even less international (he is the first non-American from the Lakers to have his number retired), know in the NBA. “Thank you for making me feel special. It was an honor for me to wear these colors”, said the former “Big Man” to spectators almost all dressed in his jersey, who were waiting for them in their seats. Gift from the Lakers.
But the source of her tears is also absence. “I can’t go on without talking about the person and the face that I don’t see this (mardi) evening “. Kobe Bryant of course. The player with whom he won his two league titles in 2009 and 2010. The friend, disappeared in January 2020 in a helicopter crash with his daughterGigi. “I miss him so much, like so many others. I believe he would be proud. I love you, my brother “. And then tears, again, and cries “Kobe, Kobe” in the room. Their jerseys (Kobe’s number 8 and number 24 have been retired) will remain side by side forever on the walls of the enclosure.
The ceremony just started with the Black Mamba. “There is no debate. When Pau retires, he will have his shirt next to mine.”says Bryant in a video dating from 2017, presented by his wife Vanessa, also very close to the Barcelonian. “I don’t win these two titles without Pau. The Lakers don’t have those two titles without Pau. Everyone knows that and I can’t wait to see him in the middle of the floor for his speech in front of all the fans. It will be a great evening! », continues Kobe. The first Spaniard to play in an NBA final was not the only one to be moved in the room at that time.
Already in the middle of the second quarter, the eyes of Pau Gasol, sitting with his little girl at the corner of the floor, had dropped his first tears after a first video broadcast on giant screens. A look back at his career at the Lakers, the first comments from the enthusiastic media during his transfer from Memphis in 2008, his decisive basket in Game 7 of the 2010 Finals against the Celtics (83-79), the voice of the opera singer Spanish Plácido Domingo on images of him, his brother Marc, present Tuesday evening, and his other brother, Kobe.
Next step: the class of 2023 of the Hall of Fame.Their relationship took up much of the pre-game press conference. How the Spaniard had allowed the two men to get closer, for example. Or how the superstar pushed him to become better. After the defeat in the final in 6 matches against the Celtics in 2008 and that a few weeks later at the Olympic Games with Spain against the United States (118-107), Gasol had found Bryant’s gold medal on his chair. when the season resumes. “Try not to lose a third in a row”had carried his teammate.
“One of the reasons I’m up there is because I had a big role in those two titles. If I hadn’t contributed, we wouldn’t be sitting here today. Finally if maybe but to talk about something else »Gasol smiled at reporters.
The Spaniard left Los Angeles for Chicago in 2014 after 429 games averaging 17.7 points and 9.9 rebounds in the gold and purple jersey. Others, like Derek Fisher, played longer or earned more than him in “LA” but immediately turned him into a struggling franchise. No one has forgotten his talent or his elegance on and off the court. A famous equipment manufacturer even greeted it with an advertisement broadcast on a loop on the three giant screens at the foot of a skyscraper on Figueroa Street, opposite the Crypto.com Arena.
Already honored by the WNBA for his charitable work during the last All-Star Game, the usual executioner of the France team has not finished with the tributes. Next step: the class of 2023 of the Hall of Fame.
