The Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies have been trade partners a total of three times.
In an ongoing series here at Lake Show Life, we are breaking down the best trade that the Los Angeles Lakers have made with every other franchise in the NBA. Today, we break down the best trade with the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Lakers and Grizzlies have only been trade partners three times in franchise history, with the first trade occurring in 1996 (the summer after the Grizzlies’ first season), with the most recent trade being in February of 2009.
Neither of those trades are the best trades in team history with the Grizzlies, though, as the best trade with Memphis is quite obvious.
The Los Angeles Lakers’ best trade ever with the Memphis Grizzlies
The trade that helped pave the way to Kobe Bryant’s fourth and fifth championship with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers would not be 16-time champions if it was not for Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant might not have even finished his career in LA if this trade didn’t happen.
The Lakers added the second all-star that Bryant needed by swapping the draft rights to Marc Gasol, who at the time was still playing in Europe, along with Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie and two first-round picks for Pau Gasol and a measly second.
If this trade did not work out, if the partnership of Gasol and Kobe did not work because of Kobe’s tenacity and Gasol’s reserved attitude, then who knows what would have happened to Kobe and the Lakers.
It did work. The Lakers finished exceptionally well with Gasol on the roster in the 2007-08 season and marched to the NBA Finals, where they were met by Boston’s big three and lost in six games.
That was just the start, though, as Gasol became a better fit, in part due to Kobe’s “grooming” of him as a teammate, and the Lakers went on to win back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010 with Gasol playing a big role in each one.
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Kobe was the alpha, there is no doubt about that. But he could not do it alone, he needed help, and Gasol was the perfect help to put an already talented team over the edge.
For Memphis, Marc Gasol turned out to be an all-star center, making the trade worth it, but the rest of the pieces did not pan out, particularly the two first-round picks. Granted, they were late in the first round, but neither Donte Green nor Greivis Vasquez was helpful in any way.
Green never appeared for Memphis and was a role player for Sacramento for four seasons and Vasquez played 70 games for Memphis, was non-impactful, and was traded.
Meanwhile, Pau Gasol became a two-time champion and etched his name in Los Angeles Lakers history along with other all-time basketball greats.