Pau Gasol recalls Kobe Bryant’s iconic welcome message to Lakers at 00:00: "Let's go win a championship together"
The Los Angeles Lakers won two championships with the duo of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. Following Shaquille O'Neal's decision to leave Los Angeles, Bryant was determined to prove that he could win without the legendary big man; he achieved the goal once Pau Gasol arrived.
During his Hall of Fame enshrinement, Gasol revealed how Bryant welcomed him to the Lakers with a midnight text.
"That night, I joined the team in DC, and I got to the hotel after midnight," Gasol said.
"He (Kobe Bryant) was texting me, saying 'hey I wanna come by your room, and I wanna welcome you. I wanna say hello, and I wanna welcome you to the team' ... He just wanted to make sure that right away, first hand, I got the message. He said 'Welcome to the team. I'm happy you're here, let's go win a championship together.'"
In Pau Gasol's first full season with the Lakers in 2008-09, he and Bryant led the team to a championship. The duo repeated their exploits the following year, marking back-to-back championship runs.
Bryant and Gasol quickly proved themselves as the best one-two punch in the NBA. They spent six seasons together before Pau Gasol headed to the Chicago Bulls in 2014, where he became a two-time Eastern Conference All-Star.
Mitch Kupchak shares why Pau Gasol-Kobe Bryant tandem worked
During a recent interview with Sportskeeda's Mark Medina, former Los Angeles Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak shared why he reckons the duo of Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol worked so well.
"Kobe was hard on his teammates," Kupchak said. "He pushed them. I know with Pau, I felt at the beginning, Kobe was particularly hard on him.
"Kobe wanted to win. He realized that this was how he was going to win. Pau was younger and hadn’t been through the wars of the playoffs and didn’t know what to expect. In Kobe’s mind, he didn’t have forever. He wanted to get this done now. So he pushed him and drove him."
Kupchak continued"
"Initially, it was hard on Pau. But ultimately, they ended up having one of the best relationships ever. The first couple of games was something different. But that’s the regular season.
"In the playoffs, that’s when times get tough, and you need somebody to push you. Kobe was doing the pushing.”
Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol became a dominant force in the NBA. They may have won two championships together, but it was the sustained period of success the duo bought to the Lakers that will ensure the memory of their run together remains part of the team's history.