Los Angeles Lakers legend Pau Gasol was immortalized forever on Saturday night as he and the rest of the 2023 class were officially inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame during a beautiful ceremony.
It is one of the best Hall of Fame classes ever as joining Gasol was Dwyane Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Gregg Popovich, Becky Hammon and others. They all gave exceptional speeches, thanking everyone who was a part of their basketball journeys that helped get them to this point.
For Gasol, of course that included a lot of time in the Lakers organization where he won two championships alongside Kobe Bryant.
Naturally, Gasol’s speech included some great words for Bryant, who obviously could not be in attendance after tragically passing away in 2020. Gasol and Bryant had a special relationship though, and the former wanted to let it be known that he would not have reached this point without his brother.
Gasol also thanked his family, the Lakers organization, his former teammates and plenty of others during his incredible speech:
Gasol chose Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and international legend Toni Kukoc to present him at the ceremony but unfortunately the former was not able to make it due to an illness.
The Spanish big man began by thanking all of the international players that came before him and paved the way for him to be a global superstar. He also thanked the USA Dream Team, who played in his native Barcelona in 1992 when he was just 12 years of age and inspired Gasol and so many others to one day be playing at that level.
Of course Gasol would have never reached this point without his own family, so he also gave thanks to them and joked that he and Marc were the first brothers to be traded for each other in the NBA.
That trade to the Lakers in 2008 changed Gasol’s life forever as he went from playing for the small market Memphis Grizzlies to the league’s biggest brand in L.A. alongside the league’s biggest star in Bryant.
Gasol told stories of how the trade went down and when he first met Bryant at 1 a.m. at a Washington D.C. hotel after he met up with the team on their road trip. In addition to Bryant, Gasol also thanked the Lakers organization, his former teammates and head coach Phil Jackson, who he won two titles alongside.
Gasol grateful to have Vanessa Bryant in attendance
While paying tribute to his brother Kobe Bryant, Gasol also made sure to thank his wife Vanessa for being in attendance on this special day. The Gasol’s and Bryant’s remain very close to this day with Pau being there for Vanessa whenever needed, which is great to see.
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