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Kobe Bryant loved to tell people he didn’t have time for friends. Unconventionally, most people have friends they talk to on a regular basis or have a meal when they are in the same part of town.
Also on the brand, Bryant even filed the slogan “Friends hang sometimes, banners hang forever”.
Pau Gasol heard him say that all the time.
“Yeah, he always said, ‘I don’t have time for friends. I’m too busy being successful, being the best, or achieving greatness. I don’t have time for sentimental things, ”Gasol said. “He was saying this publicly, and there was some truth to it. But …”
Gasol knew the truth.
Beneath all these difficult discussions, there was a sensitive father with four daughters who would always be there when Gasol called.
“He’s the closest thing to a big brother I’ve had in my life,” Gasol said.
They didn’t take selfies together when they got together for dinner in the later years of their careers, or after Bryant retired from the NBA in 2016. The only trace of Bryant and Gasol’s close relationship was mainly come in the form of #hermano – Spanish for brother – hashtags on Twitter or Instagram.
Gasol did not need the cry. He already knew how close the friendship between him and Bryant was. But he’s proud to have brought Bryant to open up and show the world that side of him.
“You could see his hardness, his courage, his desire, his hunger, the Mamba mentality.… But he also had a very kind, very loving side.
Pau Gasol on Kobe Bryant
“You could see his hardness, his courage, his desire, his hunger, the Mamba mentality – being the best all the time, working harder than anyone,” Gasol said. “But he also had a very kind, very loving side.”
In the later stages of his career, Bryant began to lower the veil slightly and let the world see what Gasol was doing.
“I’m more naturally inclined to show my sweetness on a personal and emotional level and I think that’s something that I may have influenced him in some way,” Gasol said. “I would say, ‘It’s okay to be normal or act nice and vulnerable or gentle sometimes. We don’t have to be so hard all the time and be nervous all the time. “”
Matt Barnes didn’t know it was Gasol who got Bryant to open up, but he surely noticed when it started to happen.
“I remember one time we were on a bus in Phoenix and I asked Kobe, ‘Why can’t the rest of the world see how cool you are, mother – uh?’ said Barnes, who played with Bryant and Gasol from 2010 to 2012. “I literally asked him that question in front of everyone. And Kobe was like, ‘I can’t show these mothers that.’
“I think that was part of this whole Mamba mentality. But when you let him down, or once you got through the wall, you know, Kobe was as cool as…. But he had to let you see from this side. “
It is still difficult for Gasol to speak about the death of Bryant. Mention January 26 and Gasol’s mind returns to the moment he first heard about the helicopter crash that killed the former Los Angeles Lakers greats, his daughter Gianna, and seven others.
He was in Spain at the time, with his now wife, Cat, who was on his way home when his phone started receiving alerts and texts.
“You start to go into this trance where you are completely frozen,” he said. “You’re just stuck in complete shock. You can’t believe it. I still have days, weeks, still didn’t want to believe it.
“You still thought Kobe could have gotten out of this accident on his own feet and took his daughter – and if there were any other survivors – with him to the hospital.
“We had this perception of him as so strong, as invincible. If anyone could have survived it, it was him.
Gasol said he cried for days, numb, heartbroken and shocked all at the same time. But very quickly he knew what to do.
“We just booked a flight [to California]”He said.” We decided we had to be there and off we went. We weren’t sure if we were going for a week, two weeks, or a month, but we had to be there.
“We wanted to be close to Vanessa and the kids and be there, as Uncle Pau, for whatever they needed.”
Pau Gasol in the days following the helicopter crash
“We wanted to be close to Vanessa and the kids and be there, as Uncle Pau, for whatever they needed.”
The Gasols stayed near the Bryant’s home in Orange County for several months, often checking on the family and trying to support them in this unthinkable tragedy.
Uncle Pau sent flowers to Vanessa for what would have been the couple’s 19th wedding anniversary in April and a birthday cake for what would have been Gianna’s 14th birthday in May.
The Gasols and Bryants took a boat trip to San Francisco Bay in August and dressed up as Star Wars characters for Halloween. And when the Gasols’ first child was born in September, they named her after Gianna.
“My daughter’s full name is Elisabet Gianna Gasol,” he says. “It’s a way not only to honor Gianna, but to always have them present. This is our family and in what way can you have them more present, than having it in the name of your daughter or your son?
“We had more problems finding his first name than with his middle name. It represents so much, the name. The kindness, the heart that Gianna had, the talent, just with the tenacity that she showed. Her father and mother in her is something that means a lot to us, and that’s why her name is Elisabet Gianna. “
Gasol had gone to Gianna Bryant’s basketball games over the years and had seen her talent blossom.
“She could have changed women’s basketball,” Gasol said. “I hope it happens again, but she was so meaningful, so important to the game in what she could have meant. So I think it’s up to us to have her gift and not have her. let it die take away just how much of an impact it might have. “
This is what Gasol finds solace in now, almost a year after Kobe and Gianna died.
There is still sadness and shock. He says he’ll never get in a helicopter.
“Every time I see one, it turns me on,” he says.
But Gasol said he knew he was doing exactly what his older brother wanted him to do: watch over Vanessa and her three daughters, and help others learn from the legacy Kobe and Gigi left behind. them.
“He was deeply committed to sharing his knowledge, inspiring others, touching people’s lives,” Gasol said.
Bryant’s desire to connect with others reminded Gasol of how he first connected with him. They knew each other as competitors early in their careers, as Bryant won championships with Shaquille O’Neal in Los Angeles and Gasol tried to get the Memphis Grizzlies over the hump.
Then a chance encounter changed the course of both of their lives. In the summer of 2007, the Bryant’s ran into Gasol while on vacation in his hometown of Barcelona, training in their hotel’s gym.
“It’s crazy how it went,” Gasol said. “There were discussions about leaving the Lakers and could be traded to Chicago. There were also discussions about me, because I wanted to be in a different situation than Memphis at the time, and the direction the franchise was taking.
“So I said, ‘Well, maybe someday we’ll play together. We never know.’ In my mind, I couldn’t save the Grizzlies who traded me to the Lakers. But then a few months later when I thought it just wouldn’t happen, it did. And I found myself with him and the Lakers in a perfect situation. moment when things clicked and came together right away, and we had some amazing times. “
However, there was no celebration following the superb mid-season trade, which would result in three consecutive NBA Finals appearances and two titles for the Lakers.
No, Bryant knocked on the door of Gasol’s hotel room at 1:30 a.m. and told him how it was going to be.
“I landed in Washington on the first night to join the team, and after my physical exam he came to my room to say, ‘Hey, I’m so excited to have you. Very glad you’re here. , but now let’s go win a championship, ”Gasol said.
“I mean, it doesn’t get any clearer than that. He made sure I knew right away where he was standing. There’s no confusion: ‘That’s what I want. is where I am, and this is where I’m going to need you. Now are you going to be there? Are you going to be on board or not? “”
Gasol was ready.
“I really wanted this chance,” he said. “It was my chance and I wasn’t going to waste it.
In their first game together, Bryant was even more relevant. He fed Gasol early to get him started and spoke to him in Spanish often on the pitch – so their opponents couldn’t understand them – and he generally maintained that demanding nature every minute of every game over the six seasons and more. played together.
“It could be tough. There’s no doubt about it,” Gasol said.
That’s a nice way to put it.
“There would be times when I should, like, put my arm around Pau and tell him it’s going to be okay,” Barnes said. “Because [Bryant] would this mother swear – er in any language you can imagine. “
This is how Gasol will remember Bryant as a player. Courage, determination, direct hits through the media (remember the whole Black Swan-White Swan Bryant narrative turned to motivate Gasol to be more aggressive and physical?).
But that is not how he will remember his older brother.
“Our relationship seemed to be destined to come together for some reason,” Gasol said. “And now, after his loss and Gigi’s, it brought us closer to what he meant to me, who he was, what he brought to my life and obviously to his family and now to my family, like I consider them.
“He was someone that I will miss for the rest of my life, but I will involve him in everything I do.”
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