Marc Gasol did not require much of an introduction. For more than a decade, he has occupied a place in Lakers history as a unique footnote that any knowledgeable fan can recite: He was a second-round pick who, before he ever played a game, was traded for his All-Star brother, Pau.
In the 12 seasons that followed, Gasol became a three-time All-Star and a Defensive Player of the Year. Lakers fans very much know who, and what, this younger Gasol is. But on Wednesday, he still felt a need to warn them what he is not.
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“There are some things I don’t have,” he said. “I don’t have the above-the-rim lob threat all the time.”
The 35-year-old knows he is stepping into the job that was shared between two of the league’s best rim protectors. Dwight Howard signed with Philadelphia as a free agent, and to create a spot for Gasol, the Lakers traded JaVale McGee to Cleveland.
Gasol is, to put it mildly, a very different kind of defender.
“I try to get to places before I jump in the air because my time that I’m going to stay in the air is not very long,” he said wryly on a video conference with reporters. “But I try to use my instincts and my knowledge of the game, the way I study it, to get there before the offense gets there.”
And while he is also stepping into a role formerly occupied by his big brother, this Gasol has very much made a name for himself.
Gasol was named the Defensive Player of the Year in 2013, beating out LeBron James, who was then in Miami. His scoring has dipped since Memphis sent him to Toronto at the trade deadline in 2019, but he is still regarded as one of the NBA’s top defensive centers. And, as one of the league’s top passing big men, much like Pau was for the Lakers from 2008 to 2014, he sees that skill being a particularly useful asset next to Anthony Davis.
“He’s so unique that I can do different things on the court to create space for him, try to make easy baskets,” Gasol said. “Not just for him but any teammate. I always look for making their job easier on offense, try to have the defense chasing the ball a little bit and not knowing what’s gonna happen and be a step ahead.”
After starring for a decade in Memphis and leading the Grizzlies to the Western Conference finals in 2013, Gasol settled in as the ultimate role player in Toronto, helping the Raptors win the franchise’s first championship in 2019. He’s hoping to have a similar impact with the defending champion Lakers as a complement to their two superstars.
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“Obviously, those two guys are unique and kind of the head of the team,” Gasol said. “But the rest of the group, we all have to work as a unit as well, and everything has to be on the same page. So it’s going to be fun. I can’t wait to start working with the team and everybody’s tendencies and where they like to work at and operate on the floor.”
Last season, Gasol averaged 7.5 points and 6.3 rebounds while knocking down 38.5 percent of his 3-point attempts. His numbers dipped when the season resumed in the bubble, where he played just 20 minutes per game in the playoffs as Toronto fell to Boston in the second round. While Gasol endorsed the bubble as the “only way to execute the plan the NBA had,” he acknowledged that “it didn’t work out great for me personally.”
When free agency opened on Friday, Gasol said the Lakers were the first team to reach out. He narrowed his decision to the Lakers and a Raptors return, a choice he called “very hard.”
“The first couple days were a little tough for me,” he said, “but once you kind of decide, OK, what you want to do next, where, how you want to go about your next challenge, I thought the right thing to do was go with Lakers.”
Gasol said his decision came down to having a “chance of winning another championship and contributing to a team that is already really good.”
It is a homecoming of sorts for Gasol, but more notably, it’s a chance to follow in the footsteps of his brother, who is a lock for the Hall of Fame and whose No. 16 jersey will eventually be retired by the franchise.
Gasol’s life story is intertwined with the Lakers. The franchise drafted him No. 48 in 2007, but eight months later, the Lakers included him among the four players they traded to Memphis in exchange for Pau.
Like Wesley Matthews, who joined the Lakers 32 years after his father won a pair of rings with the franchise, Gasol’s personal ties made his signing with the Lakers a more sentimental affair.
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“I think there’s a bunch of cool backstories for me joining the Lakers,” Gasol said. “Being drafted a while ago by the team. Watching Pau through all his years here. And watching him grow as a player and grow as a man in L.A.”
Pau is beloved by the franchise after winning championships alongside Kobe Bryant in 2009 and 2010. His younger brother was on hand for both of the finals-clinching wins, and the experiences made a lasting impact on him.
“I got to meet up close a lot of people who are around the team, that you guys (the media) all know but that the public doesn’t know, and saw how they interacted and how much they care about the players,” Gasol said. “How great they took care of them. All those things are awesome, and they’re role models for all the teams in the NBA.”
But the newest Gasol said his older brother, who last played in the NBA in 2019, did not impart any words of wisdom about joining the franchise to which he contributed to two of its 17 championships.
“He hasn’t given me any advice,” Gasol said. “It’s a completely different team than it is now. I don’t think there’s any players left from back then, and a completely different coaching staff.
“So it’s up to me to make it work more than anything.”
(Top photo of Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol: Harry How / Getty Images)