Grizzlies Celebrating Benefits of Pau Gasol Trade

According to the front-office and the local media, the Gasol trade is looking less and less ridiculous with each passing day: “Memphis, looking back at it now, made a pretty good deal,’ Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak told the Los Angeles Times. ‘At the time, they took a beating. They ended up getting a player (Marc Gasol) that we both knew was a good player and he’s going to get a lot better. They got a lot of flexibility. They got multiple draft picks. I’m happy for Memphis because that’s how it should be.’ Although former Griz coach Mike Fratello is on the record as saying he would have never made the trade, Wallace doesn’t regret going to Griz owner Michael Heisley in December of 2007 with a plea to move Gasol. Heisley relented and then finally gave in to Wallace’s wish — with the condition that the Griz didn’t take on long-term contracts. ‘And we don’t have any bad contracts going forward to this day,’ GM Chris Wallace said. ‘I think it’s a win-win for both teams. They won off it. They won a title. But we have rejuvenated our franchise. We have a bright future in large part because of the assets we got back from that trade. We still have some gifts to come. If we would have stayed with Pau, it would have been impossible to bring in that rainmaking veteran player that he could have played off of and be that strong No. 2 guy. If we had stayed status quo I don’t think we’d be as far along.”‘