The entire basketball world was absolutely floored when news came down that the Los Angeles Lakers had traded for superstar guard Luka Doncic. It was something that no one saw coming and has completely changed the trajectory of the Lakers franchise both in the short and long term.
In a bit of irony, the deal actually came on the exact same day that the Lakers shockingly traded for Pau Gasol, another international star whom the rest of the league was unaware was even available for trade in 2008.
And the Lakers legend and Hall of Famer, like the rest of the world, was absolutely shocked upon hearing about the Doncic trade as Gasol spoke about during his appearance on the Knuckleheads podcast with Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson:
“Obviously, at first, surprised, shocked. It was hard to kind of digest that that actually happened, that that type of player gets traded at 25 years old. It just doesn’t happen, never happened, might not happen ever again. But it happened for whatever reason. It’s crazy because I’ve known Nico [Harrison], I know Rob [Pelinka] personally for a long time. I was just talking to AD when they came to play here vs. the Warriors, and we were going to get together. He wanted to help the Lakers win another championship and prolong and extend obviously. He wasn’t thinking he was going anywhere. Then you have Luka, who is a generational talent, a guy who has put up crazy, crazy numbers his first five-and-a-half years of his career. Five, I think, first All-NBA teams, took the team to the Finals with Kyrie and the rest of the guys last year and then boom. From the Lakers standpoint, they seem pretty excited. You feel like hey, I’ve got a huge win here. I’ve got a guy that I can build my franchise around… So obviously exciting times for the Lakers. Interesting and challenging times maybe for the Mavs where they’ve put themselves in a position where they’re gonna have to deliver quick. Nothing short of a Finals might not cut it. A lot of layers, a lot of depth to this move that it’s quite incredibly. Unprecedented, really.”
As Gasol noted, he has a relationship with the people involved in making this deal and he had absolutely no clue. Anthony Davis wanted to bring the Lakers a championship, and Doncic thought he would spend his entire career with the Mavericks. But all of those thoughts suddenly came to an end.
Of course, Gasol would go on to help the Lakers win back-to-back championships following his trade to L.A. and Luka is hoping to accomplish the same goals now that he is part of the purple and gold.
Lakers legend Pau Gasol doesn’t believe the face of the NBA has to be American
Pau Gasol is one of the most intelligent and well-spoken athletes the NBA has ever seen and he has no problem giving his thoughts on any number of topics surrounding the game. The Lakers legend recently got involved in the discussions on the face of the NBA and offered an interesting take.
With some in the media having talked about the need for an American star to emerge as the face of the league, Gasol disagreed, noting that with how much the game of basketball has grown internationally, the face of the NBA doesn’t have to be American. Gasol also added that he feels there doesn’t need to be just one face, but can be multiple players.
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