Marc Gasol is a Big Fat Winner
Everything comes full circle. Marc Gasol is moving from the Lakers, to Memphis, once again. The Lakers save some cash, get some guy named Wang that will never play, and Marc Gasol gets to stay in Spain and hang out with his brother.
In NBA days of yore, the Lakers bamboozled old Chris Wallace out of that fancy Spaniard, Pau Gasol, and it made Gregg Popovich extra grumpy. The deal worked out for the Lakers (2 more titles), and surprisingly, Memphis. And not because Javaris Crittendon or Kwame Brown ever became remotely good.
Pau’s brother Marc was in the trade, and Marc Gasol became very good.
Now, Marc Gasol used to be, um, just a skosh portly. And as if high school isn’t hard enough, this very tall, husky Spanish fella had to figure out how to get by in a foreign country where he barely spoke the language.
It was trying times. Early on, the communication barrier was so profound, he couldn’t ask some of the more important questions, such as, “Where is the cafeteria?” It seems as if Marc was somehow able to track down food, and this may have been the time he earned the nickname, “The Big Burrito”.
Marc was a shy dude and the women from the video above make a point to mention his complete lack of game with the ladies a number of times. But even from this young age, he was dominant on the basketball court. The above-linked video has some razor-sharp analysis of Marc’s early prowess:
“He was shy with teachers, he was shy with the girls, uh, I think the place he was really really comfortable, was on basketball court. [note, the lady in the video really says, “on basketball court” — there is no definite article] Um, his games were sort of fun because Marc was so much taller than any other basketball players at our school, he would usually stand down by the… goal. And they would lob the ball to him, and he would get it in.”
Marc’s undeniable talent led Lausanne (in Memphis!) to a seemingly astonishing 2nd place finish in the state. At least it’s astonishing to this lady in the video, who gushed that it was, “The best we ever did with sports. That’s the best we did.”
After he graduated from high school, the Big Burrito rolled back over to Spain, where he played quite well. Well enough to be selected by the Lakers in the second round. But that didn’t stop disgruntled early-phase internet users, commenting in forums under the heading, “Marc Gasol is a fat bust” and saying that his problem is “too many pies.”
Well, after Marc landed back in Memphis, he proceeded to eat up gobs of records, as well as slim down a bit. He became one of the founding fathers of the Grit N’ Grind Grizzlies. That Memphis team gave the 2015 Warriors a bit of a scare before they began disrespecting Tony Allen in the most blatant fashion possible — by literally not guarding him. While Memphis never broke through to the finals, Gasol was a key addition to the 2019 Raptors team that did topple the Warriors. Marc found his way back to LA where he rode the bench and stared into the abyss that was Andre Drummond. He decided he didn’t want to rinse and repeat with Dwight Howard and DeAndre Jordan.
So now the Lakers are bringing this whole journey full circle. They drafted him, sent him to Memphis, where he thrived. And now they send him back to Memphis, where the Grizz will buy him out and allow him to head back to Spain. Maybe he’ll play out his days in Spain, or maybe he’ll contemplate one last NBA comeback.
Either way, Gasol will retire with a serious resume: He made a couple of All-NBA teams, three All-Star teams, and won Defensive Player of the Year. He won two Olympic silver medals, one NBA title, and one second-place finish with the Lausanne boys Varsity team in Tennessee.
That’s the best he did. That’s the best he ever did in sports.