akers co-owner Jeanie Buss had a secret in 2008 and she wasn’t going to tell anyone, not even her then-boyfriend, coach Phil Jackson.
The news she had gotten from her father was potentially franchise-changing, the final step to getting the Lakers back on track after they traded Shaquille O’Neal in July 2004.
“We’re approaching the trade deadline,” she said. “And, you know, with trade talks, rumors start, and my dad tells me he’s talking to the owner of the Memphis team about trading Pau [Gasol] to the Lakers. And, he said, ‘It’s really important that nobody finds out about this.’ And I said, I promise, I won’t say anything to Phil, like, he’s not gonna hear anything from me. I’m not gonna say anything to anybody.
“But that would be amazing if that could happen.”
The trade, of course, did happen — the secret staying that way until the Lakers pulled off the deal sending Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, a 2008 first-round draft pick and the rights to Marc Gasol to Memphis for Pau Gasol.
“I’ve been in the NBA since 1986. I’m with my, I think, eighth team now,” former Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace told The Times. “… I’ve never seen a deal that was as vociferously criticized, not off the record, but upfront by people inside the league.”
Skalij, Wally –– – LOS ANGELES. CA. JUNE 7, 2009––Lakers Pau Gasol celebrates his three–point play. LAKERS
Pau Gasol’s exclusive interview with the L.A. Times before Hall of Fame induction Aug. 11, 2023
The ripples from the trade altered multiple franchises and helped push Gasol into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, where he’ll be formally inducted Saturday.
“You don’t start playing basketball, a sport to get to basketball, I don’t know, basketball heaven,” Gasol told The Times. “You play a game that you love. It intrigues you, it excites you, it feels and gives you self-esteem and confidence when you’re a kid. And then little by little, you’re like, ‘Hey, I want to be better. I want to become better. I want to be the best that I can be.’”
Ahead of Gasol’s induction, The Times spoke to the main characters involved with one of the most important NBA trades of the last 20 years — a transaction that led to a Hall-of-Fame career and two NBA titles in Los Angeles, and helped cement Memphis as a viable NBA city.
In 2001, the Grizzlies were floundering in Vancouver and owner Michael Heisley decided to relocate. Louisville, New Orleans and Anaheim were among the cities considered, but ultimately, the franchise landed in Memphis. Their first big decision came on draft night, when the Grizzlies traded Shareef Abdur-Rahim to Atlanta for the No. 3 pick in the draft — Pau Gasol.
PAU GASOL: Growing up, one of my idols was this European player who accepted the honor to be one of my presenters, Toni Kukoc. He was this young, fearless, skillful, 6-8, 6-9, 6-10, around that. He was a player that played outside. … So, Michael [Jordan] was the guy, right, of that time, of the ‘90s that transcended basketball. But then Toni was the European guy, the skinny guy. I was playing small forward until I was 19. I was skinny, too. I knew how to dribble the ball, pass, make plays, make some shots. That was it. So, he was a guy that I looked up to growing up.
Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant share a warm embrace at center court as they realize victory is imminent over the Magic. Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant share a warm embrace at center court as they realize victory is imminent over the Magic in Game 3 of the 2009 NBA Finals. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times) Gasol’s skills made him an instant success in Memphis, where he was voted rookie of the year. By 2004, the Grizzlies were in the playoffs. But the team got swept in the first round in three straight seasons. As they struggled in 2007, Gasol requested a trade. He was nearly dealt to Chicago, but ultimately, he remained with the Grizzlies. In the 2008 offseason, Memphis hired a new general manager in Chris Wallace. They drafted point guard Mike Conley. And they traded for Gasol’s good friend, Juan Carlos Navarro.
CHRIS WALLACE, Grizzlies GM: Now, when I got there, after we got through the draft, it was evident that our franchise was at a very low place. The team had never won a playoff game. They were 0-for 12 in the playoffs. And all those 12 defeats came [since moving to] Memphis. … I felt we were like a junior high school team in town. Yeah. There was no passion. There was complete apathy.Ticket sales have gone down, everything is going down, right. So now when I came there, we have one major, big-time player, which is Pau Gasol. You could tell when you talked to him that his candle had been doused for the Grizzlies.
PHIL JACKSON, Lakers head coach: He’s a very unique player. I don’t know if we’ve had many players like him before. His mobility, his agility. He both played with his back to the basket and facing the basket, and his size being able to handle the ball. He’s a very unique player. … We had talked about trading for him the All-Star game prior to the year he actually came. We were kind of concerned that if he could play the center spot, if he could defend the lane.”
WALLACE: And so I tried, then I tried, you know, the ultimate, you know, Hail Mary to reach out to [Gasol]. I traded a first-round pick for his good friend, Juan Carlos Navarro. Also, ironically, in my Reach-Out-to-Pau program, I chased a second-round pick all through the draft, until the Lakers used it on Marc.
MIKE CONLEY, Grizzlies rookie point guard: I was thinking like, ‘Man, I get to play with Pau Gasol. Mike Miller. This is going to be a lot of fun, I’m going to learn a lot and we’re going to be good soon … because we’ve got Pau. I was super green. I didn’t really understand what direction [we were headed] and I didn’t really worry so much about what direction the team was going in — until the day he was traded.
The Lakers, in their own way, were also struggling in the mid-2000’s. After trading Shaquille O’Neal, the team also lost Jackson. Built around Kobe Bryant, the Lakers missed the playoffs in 2005. The team re-hired Jackson and returned to the postseason, but after consecutive first-round series losses Bryant asked to be traded.
ROB PELINKA, Kobe Bryant’s agent: After three seasons of not winning a playoff series, I just remember Kobe being so voracious about wanting to go on a championship run. Like, ‘I’m not going to go through this again without a clear path for a championship,’ just with that Mamba Mentality of like, ‘Nothing’s gonna get in my way.’ I think he just felt like the best way to really, you know, engage things was was to do what he did, you know, in May of 2007. When he was like, ‘Hey, I want to be on a championship team’ and, you know, kind of made it made the famous [trade] request.
BUSS: It’s so frustrating to lose in the playoffs. So I would say the same thing. You know, in some ways, I would rather not make the playoffs than have to lose in the first round. It’s horrible. … My dad had agreed to meet with [Bryant]. They met in Italy, as a matter of fact, and, you know, my dad said, ‘Look, if, you know, you’re like, an 8-carat diamond, you know, like, in other words, an 8-carat diamond is worth a lot more than eight 1-carat diamonds.’ And he said, there’s no amount of talent that I can get back, that would match yours. You have to trust me, that I want to win as much as you do. And we’re gonna get there.
JACKSON: Kobe had gone through a series of disappointments when I came back from my sabbatical, maybe two seasons, and he was getting kind of desperate. Shaq had won one [championship] down in Miami and kind of taunted him a little bit. Kobe was trying to force a trade if he could make it happen for his career. I think it was an idle threat. He still wanted to make some changes and Dr. Buss was patient and consistent and they worked it out.
Lakers forward Pau Gasol (left) battles for a rebound against his brother, Grizzlies center Marc Gasol. Lakers forward Pau Gasol (left) battles for a rebound against his brother, Grizzlies center Marc Gasol during a game in 2009. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times) In December 2007, Wallace went to Heisley to tell him he thought a trade was necessary and that Gasol would be the one that needed to go. Meanwhile, the Lakers were about to lose Andrew Bynum to injury, causing a need for a frontcourt player.
WALLACE: The real issue here is [Pau’s] not a No. 1 guy on a great, great team. And that’s no disrespect. There are hardly any guys in the league that are. He’s Scottie Pippen. I know that Michael Jordan, I can’t go get him a replica of Michael Jordan. I can’t go get him Kobe. … Him as the No. 1 guy is miscast. He’s not enthusiastic about being with us. The town don’t like us. So I go to the owner, Mr. Michael Heisley, around the Christmas holidays and said, ‘Look, we got to do something here.’ Apathy is worse than if they hate you.
MITCH KUPCHAK, Lakers general manager: Andrew Bynum had gotten hurt. So, we went from a team that I think had the best record in the West to a team that was now playing .500 ball, So, we’re scouring the league looking for ways to replace Andrew Bynum and we exchange phone calls with Chris Wallace.
PELINKA: Once Kobe and I got that information, there was daily interactions with Mitch of like, hey, when a player of this caliber becomes available, but you know, let’s figure out a path.
Wallace placed calls around the NBA with a list of players he’d accept in one-for-one deals for Gasol — a list that included names that he knew he’d never get. He made calls on Al Horford with Atlanta. He also checked in on Joakim Noah with Chicago, the team that was interested in Gasol the previous season.
WALLACE: [Noah] was the one guy on the list I might have been able to swing.
1 Comment
akers co-owner Jeanie Buss had a secret in 2008 and she wasn’t going to tell anyone, not even her then-boyfriend, coach Phil Jackson.
The news she had gotten from her father was potentially franchise-changing, the final step to getting the Lakers back on track after they traded Shaquille O’Neal in July 2004.
“We’re approaching the trade deadline,” she said. “And, you know, with trade talks, rumors start, and my dad tells me he’s talking to the owner of the Memphis team about trading Pau [Gasol] to the Lakers. And, he said, ‘It’s really important that nobody finds out about this.’ And I said, I promise, I won’t say anything to Phil, like, he’s not gonna hear anything from me. I’m not gonna say anything to anybody.
“But that would be amazing if that could happen.”
The trade, of course, did happen — the secret staying that way until the Lakers pulled off the deal sending Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, a 2008 first-round draft pick and the rights to Marc Gasol to Memphis for Pau Gasol.
“I’ve been in the NBA since 1986. I’m with my, I think, eighth team now,” former Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace told The Times. “… I’ve never seen a deal that was as vociferously criticized, not off the record, but upfront by people inside the league.”
Skalij, Wally –– – LOS ANGELES. CA. JUNE 7, 2009––Lakers Pau Gasol celebrates his three–point play.
LAKERS
Pau Gasol’s exclusive interview with the L.A. Times before Hall of Fame induction
Aug. 11, 2023
The ripples from the trade altered multiple franchises and helped push Gasol into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, where he’ll be formally inducted Saturday.
“You don’t start playing basketball, a sport to get to basketball, I don’t know, basketball heaven,” Gasol told The Times. “You play a game that you love. It intrigues you, it excites you, it feels and gives you self-esteem and confidence when you’re a kid. And then little by little, you’re like, ‘Hey, I want to be better. I want to become better. I want to be the best that I can be.’”
Ahead of Gasol’s induction, The Times spoke to the main characters involved with one of the most important NBA trades of the last 20 years — a transaction that led to a Hall-of-Fame career and two NBA titles in Los Angeles, and helped cement Memphis as a viable NBA city.
In 2001, the Grizzlies were floundering in Vancouver and owner Michael Heisley decided to relocate. Louisville, New Orleans and Anaheim were among the cities considered, but ultimately, the franchise landed in Memphis. Their first big decision came on draft night, when the Grizzlies traded Shareef Abdur-Rahim to Atlanta for the No. 3 pick in the draft — Pau Gasol.
PAU GASOL: Growing up, one of my idols was this European player who accepted the honor to be one of my presenters, Toni Kukoc. He was this young, fearless, skillful, 6-8, 6-9, 6-10, around that. He was a player that played outside. … So, Michael [Jordan] was the guy, right, of that time, of the ‘90s that transcended basketball. But then Toni was the European guy, the skinny guy. I was playing small forward until I was 19. I was skinny, too. I knew how to dribble the ball, pass, make plays, make some shots. That was it. So, he was a guy that I looked up to growing up.
Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant share a warm embrace at center court as they realize victory is imminent over the Magic.
Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant share a warm embrace at center court as they realize victory is imminent over the Magic in Game 3 of the 2009 NBA Finals. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Gasol’s skills made him an instant success in Memphis, where he was voted rookie of the year. By 2004, the Grizzlies were in the playoffs. But the team got swept in the first round in three straight seasons. As they struggled in 2007, Gasol requested a trade. He was nearly dealt to Chicago, but ultimately, he remained with the Grizzlies. In the 2008 offseason, Memphis hired a new general manager in Chris Wallace. They drafted point guard Mike Conley. And they traded for Gasol’s good friend, Juan Carlos Navarro.
CHRIS WALLACE, Grizzlies GM: Now, when I got there, after we got through the draft, it was evident that our franchise was at a very low place. The team had never won a playoff game. They were 0-for 12 in the playoffs. And all those 12 defeats came [since moving to] Memphis. … I felt we were like a junior high school team in town. Yeah. There was no passion. There was complete apathy.Ticket sales have gone down, everything is going down, right. So now when I came there, we have one major, big-time player, which is Pau Gasol. You could tell when you talked to him that his candle had been doused for the Grizzlies.
PHIL JACKSON, Lakers head coach: He’s a very unique player. I don’t know if we’ve had many players like him before. His mobility, his agility. He both played with his back to the basket and facing the basket, and his size being able to handle the ball. He’s a very unique player. … We had talked about trading for him the All-Star game prior to the year he actually came. We were kind of concerned that if he could play the center spot, if he could defend the lane.”
WALLACE: And so I tried, then I tried, you know, the ultimate, you know, Hail Mary to reach out to [Gasol]. I traded a first-round pick for his good friend, Juan Carlos Navarro. Also, ironically, in my Reach-Out-to-Pau program, I chased a second-round pick all through the draft, until the Lakers used it on Marc.
MIKE CONLEY, Grizzlies rookie point guard: I was thinking like, ‘Man, I get to play with Pau Gasol. Mike Miller. This is going to be a lot of fun, I’m going to learn a lot and we’re going to be good soon … because we’ve got Pau. I was super green. I didn’t really understand what direction [we were headed] and I didn’t really worry so much about what direction the team was going in — until the day he was traded.
The Lakers, in their own way, were also struggling in the mid-2000’s. After trading Shaquille O’Neal, the team also lost Jackson. Built around Kobe Bryant, the Lakers missed the playoffs in 2005. The team re-hired Jackson and returned to the postseason, but after consecutive first-round series losses Bryant asked to be traded.
ROB PELINKA, Kobe Bryant’s agent: After three seasons of not winning a playoff series, I just remember Kobe being so voracious about wanting to go on a championship run. Like, ‘I’m not going to go through this again without a clear path for a championship,’ just with that Mamba Mentality of like, ‘Nothing’s gonna get in my way.’ I think he just felt like the best way to really, you know, engage things was was to do what he did, you know, in May of 2007. When he was like, ‘Hey, I want to be on a championship team’ and, you know, kind of made it made the famous [trade] request.
BUSS: It’s so frustrating to lose in the playoffs. So I would say the same thing. You know, in some ways, I would rather not make the playoffs than have to lose in the first round. It’s horrible. … My dad had agreed to meet with [Bryant]. They met in Italy, as a matter of fact, and, you know, my dad said, ‘Look, if, you know, you’re like, an 8-carat diamond, you know, like, in other words, an 8-carat diamond is worth a lot more than eight 1-carat diamonds.’ And he said, there’s no amount of talent that I can get back, that would match yours. You have to trust me, that I want to win as much as you do. And we’re gonna get there.
JACKSON: Kobe had gone through a series of disappointments when I came back from my sabbatical, maybe two seasons, and he was getting kind of desperate. Shaq had won one [championship] down in Miami and kind of taunted him a little bit. Kobe was trying to force a trade if he could make it happen for his career. I think it was an idle threat. He still wanted to make some changes and Dr. Buss was patient and consistent and they worked it out.
Lakers forward Pau Gasol (left) battles for a rebound against his brother, Grizzlies center Marc Gasol.
Lakers forward Pau Gasol (left) battles for a rebound against his brother, Grizzlies center Marc Gasol during a game in 2009. (Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
In December 2007, Wallace went to Heisley to tell him he thought a trade was necessary and that Gasol would be the one that needed to go. Meanwhile, the Lakers were about to lose Andrew Bynum to injury, causing a need for a frontcourt player.
WALLACE: The real issue here is [Pau’s] not a No. 1 guy on a great, great team. And that’s no disrespect. There are hardly any guys in the league that are. He’s Scottie Pippen. I know that Michael Jordan, I can’t go get him a replica of Michael Jordan. I can’t go get him Kobe. … Him as the No. 1 guy is miscast. He’s not enthusiastic about being with us. The town don’t like us. So I go to the owner, Mr. Michael Heisley, around the Christmas holidays and said, ‘Look, we got to do something here.’ Apathy is worse than if they hate you.
MITCH KUPCHAK, Lakers general manager: Andrew Bynum had gotten hurt. So, we went from a team that I think had the best record in the West to a team that was now playing .500 ball, So, we’re scouring the league looking for ways to replace Andrew Bynum and we exchange phone calls with Chris Wallace.
PELINKA: Once Kobe and I got that information, there was daily interactions with Mitch of like, hey, when a player of this caliber becomes available, but you know, let’s figure out a path.
Wallace placed calls around the NBA with a list of players he’d accept in one-for-one deals for Gasol — a list that included names that he knew he’d never get. He made calls on Al Horford with Atlanta. He also checked in on Joakim Noah with Chicago, the team that was interested in Gasol the previous season.
WALLACE: [Noah] was the one guy on the list I might have been able to swing.