Pau Gasol Returns!

Andrew D. Bernstein (0:09)

Welcome, everyone, to the Legends Of Sport podcast. I'm your host, Andy Bernstein. We are thrilled to bring this week's episode to all of you with the legendary Pau Gasol. This is the second time we've had Pau on the podcast, but it's the first time I can refer to him as a Hall of Famer. Congrats to Pau for his upcoming enshrinement into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. This is a huge year for Pau. Not only is he going into the Hall of Fame, he also had his number 16 jersey retired by the Lakers earlier this year. That was a magical night shared by Pau's family and friends and Laker fans everywhere. Pau is a fierce competitor and helped lead the Lakers to NBA championships in 2009 and 2010 He and Kobe were truly one of the great one-two duos in NBA history. There are so many layers to Pau as a person and an athlete, and we tried to touch on as many as possible in this interview. Pau was instrumental in leading the way for the European invasion of incredible talent into the NBA, having started his career in Memphis before joining the Lakers. He was a core member of five Olympic teams for his native country of Spain. He and his brother Mark created the Gasol Foundation with the mission to raise awareness and help eradicate childhood obesity. Pau is actively and deeply involved with Children's Hospital of Los Angeles and is a UNICEF ambassador. He and his wife Kat are big supporters of women's sports and equity. I am humbled to call Pau a friend. He is a warm, genuine person who anyone feels comfortable with as soon as they meet him. It was an honor to document his NBA career, especially the amazing years he had with the Lakers and witnessed firsthand his deep relationship with Kobe. Thank you again to Pau for graciously writing the forward to our Mamba mentality book. I'm super happy I will be there to document his Hall of Fame induction this summer, and equally happy to bring this episode to all of you. So enjoy this conversation with the legendary Pau Gasol, and as always, I'll see you on the backside. Pau, it's so great to see you, man. Thanks for joining me, and Eugenia sends her love, of course, and we really, really appreciate it, man.

Pau Gasol (2:32)

Always.

Andrew D. Bernstein (2:33)

I have to tell you that, first of all, welcome to the Legends Of Sport podcast. Again, if you remember, you were a guest very early in the pandemic, and we've come a long way. We're now ending season number six, which is pretty amazing, if you can believe that.

Pau Gasol (2:48)

Congratulations.

Andrew D. Bernstein (2:49)

Thank you, my friend. But, Pau, you know, we have a million things we can talk about. I want to go back, though, to the amazing Jersey retirement that you did with the Lakers. The Lakers did for you, but then, you know, you achieved it. And can you take me through, first of all, when you were told, how were you told about that? Was it Linda or Jeannie or somebody?

Pau Gasol (3:14)

Yeah, I think probably it was just one of my visits to the city. And I like to always stop by the office and say hi and take time and talk to Linda, talk to Jeannie, talk to just the whole team there, say hello, and just sit down and catch up and talk about different things. And one of the things that we've obviously we discussed and we've talked about was the Jersey retirement and that it was going to happen, or they were thinking about making it happen this season. And that was probably a year before that.

So, yeah, we started talking, and it's like, okay. And it was starting to come little by little more of a reality. It's still for me hard to believe. But yeah, very exciting to have those conversations and put myself in that moment.

Andrew D. Bernstein (4:19)

Yeah, for sure. I mean, it was in a moment of reflection for you. Like, was it like, you know, going back to when you first started playing basketball, was it as profound as that, is that this is where the journey has taken me. Like, I'm going to be memorialized on the wall there forever. These greats of Laker history. And then, you know, of course, we're looking forward to the Hall of Fame. It's going to happen in a couple of months. Same thing. I mean, I know how humble you are, and I know how you don't like to take credit for a lot of things that you've accomplished. Or you're very humble about those accomplishments. But in personal moments of reflection, how did you feel about it? Did you feel like, you know, wow, I really accomplished something here?