Watch: Pau Gasol makes an appearance at the LA Lakers facility with the Bryant family
Former Los Angeles Lakers champion Pau Gasol was recently spotted spending time with the Bryant family at the Lakers training facility. Pau Gasol spent six seasons with the Lakers and became a close friend of the great, late Kobe Bryant.
In a recent video, Pau Gasol can be seen spending time with the Bryant family's youngest girls, bouncing a ball around, and having a good time together in each other's company.
Uncle Pau with the Bryant girls 💜💛 @paugasol (via vanessabryant/IG) https://t.co/8DPq0Lp8da
Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant won two championships together with the Los Angeles Lakers, with the first coming in 2009 and the second in 2010. During their tenure together, Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant became close friends, with the latter championing Gasol to remain a Laker when he was involved in trade rumors during the 2014 season. Gasol said, when discussing Kobe Bryant during an interview with ESPN:
"He's the closest thing to a big brother that I've had in my life."
Pau Gasol is close with Vanessa Bryant
Following the tragic death of Kobe and Gianna Bryant, Pau Gasol and his wife booked the next flight to California. Gasol told Ramona Shelbourne of ESPN during their interview:
"We decided we needed to be there and we left. We didn't know if we were leaving for a week, two weeks or a month, but we needed to be there. We wanted to be close to Vanessa and the kids and be there, as Uncle Pau, for whatever they needed."
Since then, Pau Gasol has ensured that he makes regular trips to visit the Bryant family, and likes to be around his former teammates' children, who call him "Uncle Pau."
Pau Gasol recently retired from basketball
After finding his playing time increasingly marginalized in the NBA, Pau Gasol followed in his brother's footsteps and returned to his homeland of Spain to play out the final months of his career in Barcelona.
A hero in Los Angeles. A hoops legend around the world.
Congrats on your retirement, Pau. https://t.co/ODzWHXgq94
Pau Gasol accumulated 1226 appearances in the NBA throughout his career, and averaged 17 points, 9.2 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game, in what will likely be looked on as a future Hall Of Fame career. Pau Gasol also participated in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics for the Spanish national team, and announced his retirement after the United States eliminated them during the quarter finals.
Pau Gasol ended his career as a two-time NBA champion and six-time NBA All-Star, and also won the Rookie of The Year award during the 2002 NBA season.
With Pau Gasol no longer active as a professional basketball player, we can expect to see more videos of him spending time with the Bryant family as he continues to honor his close friend and greatest teammate.