The members of this year’s Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame class which has received their ultimate honor that too including the star-studded group which was officially inducted on Saturday night in Springfield. Legends like Gregg Popovich, Dwayne Wade, Dirk Nowitzki, and Becky Hammon were indeed among the inductees, and all their speeches were full-filled with deep emotional moments.
There was one prominent sentiment that stood out, however, it came from Star Pau Gasol, who is the former of the Los Angeles Lakers who indeed lovingly recalled his early memories of the late Kobe Bryant. He even explained that late at night, he joined the Lakers in Washington, D.C., after being traded from the Grizzlies. Bryant insisted they on staying up late and also come to his room for small talk.
Gasol said of Bryant during the induction speech that he definitely made sure that right away firsthand, he got the message, and there he said that he is welcome to the team and they are happy for him to be a part of the same. There he said that let’s win the competition together. He replied yes, he was in and had a good night. This was it, and the conversation ended with no crap and straight to the chase.
Pau Gasol in the Hall of Fame:
Then came the sentence which said, ‘I wouldn’t be here without you, brother. I wish more than anything that you and Gigi were here with us today, I miss you, and I love you. This statement indeed went viral on social media.
Gasol has often spoken of his family sort of relationship with Bryant, and he even called himself a brother to Kobe’s widow Vanessa and an Uncle to their children, and this happened during the induction speech on Saturday.
Immediately after Gasol was traded to the Lakers in the year 2008, the whole team made three consecutive NBA final strips. He even won back-to-back titles in the years 2009 and 2010 in NBA basketball, which is indeed a great victory for the whole team and for himself.
He entered the Hall of Fame as a six-time all-star, four-time all-NBA selection, and Rookie of the Year winner, and he was even a three-time Olympic medalist. Also, he was a crucial member of Spain’s national team.
This February 2023, Gasol was awarded the WNBA’s 2023 Kobe ang Gigi Bryant Advocacy award, which was indeed a significant contribution to the advancement of girls and women in the field of basketball. This was said by WNBA at the time of release.
Vanessa Bryant and WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbart presented Gasol with the award that too during the NBA All-Star game in Utah. According to Bryant, he is so pleased with Pau to be chosen for this reward.
He has done so much to promote women and girls, especially in the field of sports, and he extremely cares deeply about spreading the message of equality, which was indeed so important to Kobe and Gianna. He even added that he is grateful to the WNBA and Pau for continuing to honor Kobe and Gianna in this way.
