“A Memphian (in Spanish, Menfiano) is a worker, he does not need everyone’s recognition to do his job to the best of his ability and at the same time someone close, kind to everyone else who has empathy for other people and very hospitable”, so Marc Gasol describes the people of Memphis, with whom he lived in two stages -although he could be describing himself as a player-; first in his high school days, when the whole family accompanied Pau in his beginnings in the NBA, in a team that had not yet filled the stadium, having recently moved from Vancouver. The second, his unexpected arrival to the NBA, after a transfer that stung both Memphis players and fans as well as the press and rival franchises. A ‘trade’ that changed the history of basketball and whose innards its protagonists reveal in the documentary ‘Marc Gasol: Memphis Made’, which the franchise has released on the occasion of the retirement of the little Gasol’s number 33 on April 6.
Year 2006. The Grizzlies fall miserably in the playoffs again. The situation seems unsustainable, so the then general manager, Chris Wallace, decides to ally himself with the best of his troops: Pau Gasol. The team for the following season will be built around him. Since then, cEvery decision made in the offices will be discussed with Pau and the Catalan’s prayers will be heard: First, the arrival of Juan Carlos Navarro to the team for a pick 1 in the draft. Afterwards, an impossible mission will be attempted: bring his brother Marc.
The Lakers selected Marc Gasol in the 2nd round (48th overall) of the 2007 draft and, as the documentary shows, Wallace tries by all means to get the big brother back into his franchise, offering future rounds. But the Los Angeles franchise communicates that it is not interested and immediately the Grizzlies general manager picks up the phone to explain to his star that the arrival of his brother has been impossible and that at least they have gotten Mike Conley, a player who will give a lot to the city, but that is not what Pau expected, who insists on signing his brother, as shown in the documentary:
-Can you make a trade?
– The Lakers ask for $500,000 in cash for him
–Can you take it out of my salary?
-No.
It seems that Gasol’s dream of playing with his brother in the NBA will not happen at the moment – and we know it definitely will. But something unexpected happens and that will undoubtedly change the course of those involved, of the NBA and of Spanish basketball. Marc, who never wanted to play in the NCAA -“I gained a lot of weight, I was not comfortable there and it was not my path”, he assures on the tape – has ended up in Akasvayu Girona after his time at Barça and is the best player in the Endesa League.
Pau insists daily to his general manager… that one day, he calls him to his office to give him a bittersweet surprise: “Pau, you just got traded to the Lakers.” His persistence in signing Marc has borne fruit, but with a totally unexpected result.
“And Chris, again, made sure to tell me that all the players I was traded for They left Marc for last, like the irony of the matter, which, at that moment, did not seem such to me. It didn’t seem very ironic to me,” confesses the two-time NBA champion.
How Pau convinced the owner of Memphis to shell out an unusual salary for Marc
It is February 1, 2008. The hitherto Grizzlies star has just been traded to the Los Angeles Lakers along with a second round pick in the 2010 draft in exchange for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, the rights to Marc Gasol and two rounds of draft.
A transfer reviled by the media. The Grizzlies players cry out to heaven for losing Pau. Rival franchises too -especially Popovich, who already imagines what Pau’s arrival to Kobe Bryant’s Lakers will mean- because they believe that the movement is unbalanced. AND The Memphians don’t understand how they just got the rights of a player that although he stood out at the Lausanne institute, where he averaged 26 points, 13 rebounds, 6 blocks, in his day “he didn’t look like a college star”, according to CBS anchor Gary Parrish. And he was strolling through the most conflictive streets of Memphis in his brother’s luxurious Escalade listening to rap with his friends!!!
In Memphis they don’t know that that “brother of” is the MVP of the best league in Europe. But he still needs to be convinced to play in the NBA. It will not be easy: All of Europe wants the fittest player on the old continent
“I told Cristina -his wife- ‘If we are ever going to go to the NBA, I don’t see a better path than this. It’s a city I know. I have people there. It’s a franchise that my family has been tied to. My parents still live in Memphis.’ Everything was aligned,” Marc says.
Aware of your potential, Chris Wallace turns the levers of the Tennessee franchise and meets with the owner, Michael Hesley, several times. “I made three trips to Chicago on the 6 a.m. flight to talk to him, and he valued Marc, but “We were going to have to pay him what was paid to the first 10 options in the 2008 draft.”
Fortunately, Mr. Hesley calls Pau to ask if Marc was worth 3.3 million dollars a year. “You will not regret”, Pau ditch. The owner of the Grizzlies gives the green light, and the rest of the story, we all know.
2024-03-31 10:12:33
#Pau #reveals #influenced #trade #change #history #basketball #Relief
