Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol won 2 NBA championships and made 3 NBA Finals during their time together with the LA Lakers.
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Kobe and Pau had some of the best telepathic understanding of each other’s games that we’ve seen from any NBA duo recently. The two were both willing passers, screeners as well as willing cutters for each other.
Their understanding developed almost instantly when they took the court together. Once Pau got traded to the Lakers at the deadline back in 2008, they went on a tear to top the Western Conference standings before making the NBA Finals.
It only went better from there as Pau came into his element as an offensive hub. Under Phil Jackson’s tutelage and with tons of great role players around, the Lakers went back-to-back in 2009 and 2010.
Kobe Bryant conveyed a great message to Pau Gasol when they first met
Pau Gasol was recently a guest with JJ Redick on The Old Man and the Three podcast. The former Lakers star spoke about the chronology of his career and how he worked his trade there:
“I saw Kobe Bryant that summer prior to that trade, where there were also talks that he might go or he might’ve gone to Chicago. Chicago was of interest for him. And I wanted to try to figure out my situation.”
“Luckily they figured out a way to add pieces to that trade. I think it ended up being very positive and profitable at the time, both for Memphis and for the Lakers.”
Pau went on to describe how Bryant took him under his wing right from his first press conference as a Laker. Kobe went to meet with the Spanish basketball legend late on the night that his draft was made official.
