Best Los Angeles Lakers trades of all time: 6. Landing Pau Gasol
In the 2007-08 season, the Los Angeles Lakers returned to contention for the first time since they traded Shaq. A large reason was the outstanding play of Andrew Bynum, who had become one of the league’s best big men. However, when he went down with a serious knee injury in January, it looked like their championship prospects were severely jeopardized.
But general manager Mitch Kupchak quickly rose to the occasion, engineering a big trade on February 1st for Pau Gasol, who had averaged 19 points and 8.6 rebounds in 6 ½ seasons with Memphis. Gasol immediately assumed the starting role at center and helped propel the Lakers to three straight Finals appearances and two titles.
Pau was the model of consistency, averaging between 18 and 19 PPG for his first four Lakers seasons. He was equally adept at playing center or power forward in the triangle offense and was a perfect complement to Kobe Bryant.
Most of the other players involved in the trade had nondescript seasons.
Ebanks played 63 games for the Lakers and averaged 3.6 PPG.
Brown never lived up to his promise as the #1 pick of the 2001 draft. In his 5 ½ seasons following the trade, he never averaged more than eight points or seven rebounds a game.
Crittenton averaged just 5 PPG with two teams. Years later he pled guilty to manslaughter and is still serving a 23-year prison term.
McKie was injured at the time or the deal and was included for salary matching purposes. Memphis waived him and he never played another NBA game.
Greene ended up playing four seasons for Sacramento, averaging 6 PPG.
Vasquez did little for Memphis, averaging only 3.6 PPG. Later he had four pretty seasons for New Orleans, Sacramento and Toronto, scoring about 10.5 PPG.
But Marc Gasol, who had been playing in Europe prior to the trade, proved to be an outstanding acquisition for the Grizzlies. He played 10 ½ seasons for them, averaging 16 PPG and 8 RPG and making three all-star teams. He was traded to Toronto last year and helped the Raptors upset Golden State for the NBA title.
Memphis was widely criticized at the time for supposedly making one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history. But in retrospect, exchanging the elder Gasol for his younger brother turned out to be a much more balanced deal in which each team benefitted.
Still, from the Los Angeles Lakers’ perspective, Pau Gasol was the ingredient the team needed to win two titles, and the trade ranks as one of their best.