Los Angeles (USA), (EFE) day for another of those who really manage to reach eternity.
Pau Gasol does not have -yet- a star on the Walk of Fame, but the Spanish basketball legend is since Tuesday an immortal legend of the Los Angeles Lakers, who withdrew his jersey and number 16 as a tribute to the double NBA champion with those of purple and gold.
“To the city of Los Angeles, to ‘Laker Nation’: I love you dearly, I love you forever. Thank you for making me feel so special”, said a very emotional Gasol, who could not avoid tears at various times of the night.
The most glamorous dynasty in the NBA -and the most successful along with the Boston Celtics- stood up to honor a Gasol who formed a memorable alliance, on and off the track, with Kobe Bryant in the 2009 and 2010 rings .
Starting today, anyone looking at the roof of the Crypto.com Arena (the new name for the Staples Center) will see Gasol’s 16 alongside his ‘brother’ Kobe’s 8 and 24 and alongside other Lakers heroes like ‘ Magic’ Johnson (32), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (33), Shaquille O’Neal (34) or Jerry West (44).
To understand the magnitude of this feat, it is enough to see that the Lakers have only retired the numbers of 12 players -including Pau’s- and that the Spaniard is the first non-American to do so.
A dream come true and the memory of Kobe
Wearing a black suit and wearing his two championship rings on his fingers, Gasol captured the eyes of all the fans since he entered the pavilion between the first and second quarters of the game between the Lakers and the Memphis Grizzlies (the other great team on the wing). center during his extraordinary career in the NBA).
With his daughter in his arms, Gasol thanked, unable to avoid tears, the huge ovation from a stand in which each fan had received a shirt with the Catalan’s name and number.
The applause was repeated on several occasions with the recognition videos for Gasol (above all a very special one from coach Phil Jackson).
But the tribute as such took place at halftime.
The event began with a video of Vanessa Bryant, Kobe Bryant’s widow, who introduced Gasol, praising his human quality “as a partner, as a man and as a friend.”
Next, the stadium screens showed a 2018 interview by Bryant, with the Efe correspondent in Los Angeles Antonio Martín, in which the guard flatly demanded that Gasol’s number be removed by the Lakers.
“There is no debate. When he retires, he will have his number at the top of the pavilion. The reality is that we would not have won those two titles without him. We know it, we all know it,” Kobe said then.
Once the shirt was unveiled at the top of the stadium, Gasol, “overwhelmed” by the tribute and totally moved, thanked everyone present but also remembered “the person and the face” that unfortunately he did not see in the stadium .
“I miss you so much, really,” he said between chants of “Kobe, Kobe” in the pavilion.
Gasol said that “not in a million years” could he imagine an evening like this and recalled Kobe’s “Mamba mentality”: “Be the best you can be.”
The six-time All-Star also remembered that legendary Game 7 against the Celtics in the 2010 Finals.
“Seems like yesterday (…). What a night, he will never forget it and I think neither will you,” she noted.
Gasol thanked his family, friends and teammates (“you deserve a piece of this shirt”, he pointed out) and assured that he will continue his career off the pitch, with the Gasol Foundation, “making this world a healthier place.”
very special guests
In addition to his impressive talent and fierce competitive spirit, the Lakers hold a very special place for Gasol for his kindness, grace, humility and charitable work.
In this culminating moment of his career, the man from Sant Boi was accompanied by his wife and children, by his parents and brothers -including Marc Gasol-, and by unforgettable teammates from the ‘golden juniors’ such as Juan Carlos Navarro, Felipe Reyes or Juan Carlos Calderon.
But companions from his years of wine and roses in the Lakers such as Derek Fisher or Metta Sandiford-Artest and franchise references such as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar were also present.
Who could not be was LeBron James, who is recovering from injury.
Apart from the stars, he highlighted above all the affection and recognition of a practically full Crypto.com Arena to pay tribute to a Gasol whose name and number will remain forever in the heaven of the Lakers and the Olympus of the NBA.
The entry Pau Gasol reaches eternal glory with the Lakers was first published in EFE Noticias.