Los Angeles Lakers legend Pau Gasol mentioned four Lakers legends in his top 10 players of all time.
“Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James, Stephen Curry,” the Los Angeles Times’ Broderick Turner revealed is Gasol’s list.
While Gasol actually listed 11 players, he still showed a ton of love to the Lakers in the list.
Obviously, Gasol played with Bryant during his time with the Lakers winning two titles alongside the five-time champion.
Gasol explained some of his selections, as many of them were players he believed not only changed the game, but that he enjoyed watching.
“I think Magic and Larry also changed the game in a very unique way,” Gasol said.
Johnson and Bird battled many times during their careers and helped continue the amazing Boston Celtics-Lakers rivalry that still persists today.
Gasol also showed some love to Bryant, who modeled his game after Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan. They are two of the greatest scorers in the history of the NBA.
“I think Michael and Kobe had a huge influence on the game,” Gasol said. “They are two of my favorites as well.”
Garnett, Duncan and Nowitzki were all power forwards that Gasol played against during his career, and he certainly showed he could compete with all of them on a nightly basis.
A six-time All-Star during his NBA career, Gasol averaged 17.0 points, 9.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game while shooting 50.7 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from beyond the arc. He was also a solid defender, averaging 1.6 blocks per game.
Gasol explained that those players pushed him to be better during his NBA career.
“They were my three top players at power forwards that I used to model my game to theirs and try to beat them to become one of the better power forwards in the league,” Gasol said. “Those were references when I played throughout my years. So, they are very special. And Dirk is probably on that list because also of being international, the way he changed the game is very unique and I think it’s meaningful and that’s impactful for European and international players.”
Finally, Gasol gave a shout-out to James, who is currently leading the Lakers franchise. Not only has James won four titles in his career, but he’s done it in three different destinations, a testament to his ability to bring success with him wherever he goes.
“You have to acknowledge LeBron’s contributions to the game of basketball,” Gasol said. “He’s played 20-plus years and what he has done is pretty remarkable. And you can say Steph is another player that I would put in that category of greatness and uniqueness in changing the game and growing the game.”
Gasol, who is a member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame’s Class of 2023, has a pretty strong all-time list, and it’s great that he gave the Lakers franchise some extra love in it as well.
