Pau Gasol's Memphis Grizzlies tenure laid roots for Hall of Fame basketball career

Santi Aldama tried to focus on facing the Los Angeles Lakers on March 7, but the Memphis Grizzlies forward couldn’t avoid the cheers at Crypto.com Arena.

Pau Gasol received an ovation after a video tribute in the second quarter ahead of the Lakers retiring his jersey that night. Aldama tried to hide his pride seeing his fellow Spaniard being honored.

“He’s arguably one of the best athletes ever in the history of Spain,” Aldama said. “He’s somebody I’ve looked up to my whole life. It’s incredible, and I think anybody would appreciate that. Being so close to it, it makes it even more special.”

On Saturday, Gasol was announced among the newest members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He’ll be inducted Aug. 12 as the first Hall of Fame player who spent a significant part of his career in Memphis.

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Gasol’s legacy often focuses on his two championships with the Lakers and helping Spain became a basketball powerhouse. But his seven years with the Grizzlies – the same amount of time he spent in Los Angeles – were just as important.

The Grizzlies and Gasol came to Memphis with questions in 2001. Would fans love a franchise that spent five years in Vancouver as one of the NBA’s worst teams? Gasol, the No. 3 overall pick, was acquired in a draft-day trade with the Atlanta Hawks but there were questions about how he would adjust after playing professionally in Spain.

It didn’t take long to find out. Gasol won Rookie of the Year in 2002 and was the leading scorer on the Grizzlies’ first-ever playoff team in 2004. He was also the franchise’s first All-Star in 2006, and when he was traded to the Lakers in 2008, he was the team’s all-time leader in points, rebounds and blocks.

“He’s just a guy that you know every night, he was going to do something special,” said Arkansas men’s basketball coach Eric Musselman, a Grizzlies assistant from 2004-06. “At that time, (he) was such an incredibly young, talented superstar. His game was just so unique because of the size and the ability to do so many different things on the floor.”

Grizzlies analyst Brevin Knight, who was traded to the team along with Gasol in 2001, recalled it took time for fans to appreciate him. Most were still used to seeing big men play in the post and Gasol’s ability to play inside and outside wasn’t as common.

“They thought it should be played the way that Lorenzen (Wright) played basketball,” said Knight, who played two seasons with Gasol. “That wasn’t Pau’s game. He was going to be a finesse big who was highly skilled and was going to help this organization win games.”

The Grizzlies won 23 games in Gasol’s rookie season before improving to 28 and 50 wins the next two seasons.

Hubie Brown, who coached the Grizzlies from 2002-04, knew Gasol’s talent from seeing him as a teenager at a Nike clinic in Europe. But what Brown remembered most was Gasol not afraid of being a go-to-guy during that 2003-04 season at 23 years old despite carrying a double burden.

“The pressure at a young age for him was not just in his home country, but over here he’s now the guy where he was drafted so high that he has to produce. He answered the bell from year to year,” said Brown, who was named NBA Coach of the Year in 2004.

While Gasol’s teams went 0-for-12 in playoff games, his tenure wasn’t just a footnote before he became a champion and three-time Olympic medalist. It was a footprint that led to Memphis’ deeper love for pro basketball.

For that reason, Knight believes Gasol’s number should be retired at FedExForum. The Grizzlies have issued No. 16 only once since his trade, in 2017 to Toney Douglas.

“It was on his shoulders that (the Grizzlies) were able to have any taste of success,” Knight said. “When nobody cared a bit about Memphis Grizzlies basketball, it was still about Memphis State, he was part of that group of guys that were able to start to change those thoughts and people being able to accept both here in the city.”

Gasol’s success paved the way for the team to have even more success in the “Grit and Grind” era from 2010-17 and the current era led by Ja Morant. It also created an NBA path for Aldama, who was born six months before Gasol was drafted.

When Gasol officially joins the Hall of Fame, Aldama will feel proud to carry on a tradition not just in Memphis but for many watching in Spain who revered Gasol’s career.

“It inspires me and a lot of Spanish basketball players and athletes even more," Aldama said. “We’ve grown watching him and adoring his game and now he’s there so we can do it."

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis Grizzlies critical to Pau Gasol Hall of Fame journey