Shaquille O’Neal Claims Jerry West Gifted the Lakers Pau Gasol in 2008: Truth Debunked

Over a week has passed since the Mavericks traded Luka Doncic to the Lakers, and people are still discussing it. The concept of trading away a generational talent at 25 years old remains baffling to many. There is a large group of people who believe the Mavericks did a favor for the Lakers since they were the only team contacted. This instance reminded Shaquille O’Neal of the Lakers acquiring Pau Gasol. He claims Grizzlies general manager at the time Jerry West gifted Pau to the Lakers. However, that isn’t quite the truth.

In a recent episode of The Big Podcast with Shaq, the Lakers legend discussed the worst trades of all time. While highlighting the Lakers’ lackluster trade package for Pau, he pointed to West’s allegiance to Los Angeles as the reason it happened. He said,

“Mr. West, who loves the Lakers, he did them a favor. That was a guy who bleeds purple and gold even more than I do. Give them a gift like, ‘Hey, here you go.'”

West is iconic for his silhouette gracing the NBA’s logo, but he is most known for his tenure with the Lakers. He spent his entire 14-year playing career in Los Angeles. He then became the head coach of the franchise, and then shortly elevated to the general manager of the team. West is responsible for six NBA titles, one as a player, and five as an executive.

Shaq has a convincing argument since West also denied Bryant’s wishes to join the Grizzlies while he was the general manager. He convinced him to stay with the Lakers. However, there is one glaring piece of information, which debunks O’Neal’s claims.

Jerry West had nothing to do with the Pau Gasol trade

As much as people credit West for trading Pau to the Lakers, he had no part in the deal. West retired ahead of the 2007-08 season before the trade happened. Parker Fleming wrote a great piece on West’s impact on the Grizzlies organization, which debunked the common claim.

In addition, two moves surround the perception of West’s run in Memphis, though it’s far from reality,” Fleming said. “One of them is the Pau Gasol trade to the Los Angeles Lakers. West was not a member of either organization at the time of the trade, as he had retired from the Grizzlies GM job before the 2007-08 season.”

The moving pieces in the trade were questionable. Los Angeles only gave up Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, the rights to Marc Gasol, and two first-round picks. Marc turned out to somewhat even the trade, but the addition of Pau helped the Lakers win two titles. As much as it may seem like a gift from the Grizzlies, it certainly wasn’t.