Magic, Kobe, Kareem, Shaq, Wilt… the names found at the top of the Lakers hall are clearly dreaming, and that of Pau Gasol will soon be added to them. The legendary Spanish interior, who won two rings with the legendary Los Angeles team, will be honored next March.
March 7, 2023 exactly if we are to believe the Twitter account of the Californian franchise. We already knew that Gasol was going to be honored as it should be by the Lakers, we now have the official date. And as a symbol, this March 7 corresponds to the evening when the Grizzlies – the first NBA team from Pau before arriving in Los Angeles in 2008 – will travel au Staples Center at the Cryto.com Arena. Lakers fans, and even basketball fans (even us French), so you can already put this date in your diary because the evening promises to be epic. An evening during which the Angelinos supporters will go back about fifteen years, when Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant evolved together to put the Lakers back on the front of the stage after a few lean years. Together, under the orders of Phil Jackson and with lieutenants like Derek Fisher, Lamar Odom and a few others, the duo won the Western Conference three times in a row (between 2008 and 2010) and brought back two consecutive NBA titles by beating Orlando then the Boston’s historic rivals. The Spanish interior – All-Star six times during his career including three times with the Lakers (with three nominations in an All-NBA Team of the season) – is the one who came to bring the support that Kobe was waiting for so much, to through his magnificent technical palette, his playing intelligence and his ability to soak up the Zen Master’s triangle attack.
A Champion, legend, and forever part of the Lakers Family.
3/7/23 – We raise Pau Gasol’s jersey into the rafters pic.twitter.com/F9snGrHO9o
— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) August 17, 2022
Pau Gasol’s number 16 will thus be the twelfth to be retired by the legendary Lakers franchise. Here is the VIP circle that the Spaniard will join on March 7, 2023:
- 22 : Elgin Baylor
- 13 : Wilt Chamberlain
- 44 : Jerry West
- 25 : Gail Goodrich
- 52: Jamaal Wilkes
- 33 : Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
- 32 : Magic Johnson
- 42 : James Worthy
- 34 : Shaquille O’Neal
- 8 : Kobe Bryant
- 24 : Kobe Bryant
The great friendship that existed between Pau Gasol and Kobe, combined with the very strong ties that Pau still has with Vanessa Bryant and the Black Mamba girls, will inevitably add an extra dose of emotion to this evening like no other. When Kobe declared in 2018 that Gasol “will undoubtedly have his jersey on the ceiling next to mine”, obviously no one could have imagined what was to come in January 2020. But just over three years later, Bryant’s words will come true and nothing else can be said except that it’s fully deserved. For the player, for the man, for what he brought to the Lakers franchise, for the mark he left on the Los Angeles franchise.
On March 7, 2023, Pau Gasol will therefore once again tread the floor of the hall where he won his two NBA titles in his career, this time to receive one of the strongest honors in American sport: a jersey withdrawn from the Lakers. . A great first for a European player.
Source texte : Lakers
The Lakers will therefore officially retire Pau Gasol’s jersey on March 7, 2023 during the match against the Grizzlies.
Nice wink with the franchise in which he started in the NBA.
Totally deserved for a huge basketball player, and an equally great human. pic.twitter.com/x3Hsa2ev7p
— TrashTalk (@TrashTalk_fr) August 18, 2022