So, there was Pau Gasol peacefully sitting through “The Lion King” musical at a Hollywood theater with his family on Saturday night, when all hell broke loose on his phone. Damn you, trade rumors! Per the LA Daily News:
At intermission, though, Gasol turned on his cell phone and logged onto Twitter. Then, he learned through a false report from KSPN-710AM that the Lakers traded him to the Cleveland Cavaliers for Andrew Bynum.
“I was getting all these messages, ‘Farewell, Pau. Thanks for all your services,” all that stuff,” Gasol recalled after the Lakers’ 110-97 loss Tuesday to the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center. “I guess it’s good to get a heads-up a day before. Most guys don’t get that.”
Most guys also don’t get traded essentially three times only for the deal never to happen. But such is the circle of life for Gasol. The Lakers shipped him over two years ago in a deal that would’ve landed them Chris Paul until the NBA decided otherwise. The other two scenarios stemmed from inacurrate media reports, both during the 2011-12 season and this past week.
Gasol still hasn’t expended his nine lives with the Lakers; Cleveland traded Bynum to Chicago for All-Star forward Luol Deng and a flurry of draft picks. “It feels good to survive and live to fight another day,” said Gasol, who posted 15 points on only 5-of-14 shooting and 13 rebounds. “I’d like to continue to be here. But that’s not up to me.”
