Special Lakers honor for Gasol
Lakers legend emotional: “Kobe will always be in my heart”
The Los Angeles Lakers don’t give the jersey number of their former Spanish star player Pau Gasol a second time and pull his jersey under the roof of the hall.
The Los Angeles Lakers have “retired” the jersey number of their former Spanish star player Pau Gasol and pulled his jersey under the roof of the hall.
It was placed right next to the two jerseys worn by the late club legend Kobe Bryant (8+24), Gasol’s 16 will never be given again by the franchise.
“Tonight really surpasses any dream or expectation I had because it means so much,” said longtime NBA pro Gasol (42). The fact that his jersey is now hanging next to Bryant’s makes him “sad and happy”, it is “painful and gratifying” at the same time. Gasol cried at the unveiling.
The ceremony took place during the home game of the LA Lakers in the professional basketball league against the Memphis Grizzlies (112:103). Gasol played for the record champions with Bryant from 2008 to 2014, and in 2009 and 2010 they became champions side by side.
“I miss him a lot,” Gasol said of Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in early 2020. “All I can do is give love to his family. This is how I deal with it.” Bryant’s widow Vanessa is godmother to Gasol’s daughter Elisabet Gianna.
Gasol is the seventh European and eleventh former Lakers player to have his jersey retired in the NBA. Like German basketball idol Dirk Nowitzki, whose jersey number (41) the Dallas Mavericks retired, he is a candidate for induction into the Hall of Fame this year.
