WATCH: Pau Gasol gets emotional after seeing his Lakers #16 jersey along with Kobe Bryant
Pau Gasol gets emotional as the Los Angeles Lakers put his #16 jersey up in the rafters right next to his dear friend Kobe Bryant
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Pau Gasol had a long and successful NBA career which included two championships with the Los Angeles Lakers. Pau Gasol teared up during the moment when the jersey was revealed in the stands right beside Kobe Bryant’s. Gasol played 5 and a half seasons as a Laker with the Mamba and becomes the first foreign player in Lakers history to get their number in the rafters.
The Spaniard reminisced about his days with Kobe Bryant during his emotional speech. Gasol mentioned how much he misses Kobe and their brotherhood and wished he and Gianna (Kobe’s daughter) could have witnessed this moment. Pau joined the Lakers at a time when winning the championship was the need of the hour and he delivered the goods.
Pau Gasol made 6x All-star appearances throughout his career and 3 of them were for the Lakers between 2009 and 2011. Gasol and Bryant made 3 straight NBA finals and Pau was an all-star in two of those seasons. However, the duo was never able to make the conference finals after their championship in 2010 and after missing out on the playoffs in 2013/14 Gasol left the Lakers. Lakers fans will always have a special place in their heart for Pau Gasol for those two championships.
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Anthony Davis makes Pau Gasol proud in an inspired performance following Gasol’s jersey retirement
The Los Angeles Lakers took on Pau Gasol’s first team, the Memphis Grizzlies during Gasol’s jersey retirement. The Lakers were trailing at halftime before the ceremony and it seems like Pau’s speech inspired Anthony Davis. AD dropped 11 points in the 4th quarter after suffering a bloody nose at the start of the game. The Brow also hit the game-icing shot to give LA the win and get him to 30 points for the night.
AD also had 22 rebounds in an astounding performance to take the Lakers to the 9th seed. The Los Angeles Lakers are finally a play-in team after so long and AD has stepped up when it mattered. AD has averaged 33 points and 13 rebounds since LeBron’s injury and the Lakers have gone 3-2. The city of angels finally has hope to make the playoffs and the league should be worried.
“I told Pau I wanna hopefully be up there one day as well“, said Anthony Davis in his post-game interview. AD already has a championship in LA under his belt which included a buzzer-beater during the conference finals during that run. With consistent performances like these AD can get his name up there but he will need to avoid injuries. Injure-free AD is one of the best players in the league and is worthy of a jersey retirement in the future
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Anuj Shrikanth Iyer
(290 Articles Published)