Lakers News: Key Figures Unpack Maneuvering That Yielded Pau Gasol Trade

It had to remain a secret!

The sports world is among the most interesting when it comes to business and organizational decisions. Every front office is trying to put together a team that will not only win as many games as possible but also sell a ton of tickets along with becoming relevant all over social media these days.

Because of such popular platforms that can share news within seconds, it's very hard to keep anything discreet in the NBA. However, luckily for the Los Angeles Lakers, 2008 was a far different time and thanks to certain people in high places being able to make quiet moves, recent hall of fame Pau Gasol ended up in purple and gold.

The Gasol stories have been flying ever since he gave his heartfelt speech at the annual Naismith ceremony and it was amazing to see him granted with such an honor. Months ago, we saw his jersey go up in the rafters at Crypto.com Arena and the basketball community has only continued recognizing his accomplishments.

Lakers president Jeanie Buss spoke on the Gasol trade to the Los Angeles Times and revealed that in order for it be a success she could not tell anybody, not even Phil Jackson.

“We’re approaching the trade deadline,” she said. “And, you know, with trade talks, rumors start, and my dad tells me he’s talking to the owner of the Memphis team about trading Pau [Gasol] to the Lakers. And, he said, ‘It’s really important that nobody finds out about this.’ And I said, I promise, I won’t say anything to Phil, like, he’s not gonna hear anything from me. I’m not gonna say anything to anybody."

(Via LA Times)

Even though Jackson may have been hurt at the time to be kept out of the loop, I'm sure the two championships that the deal resulted in made everything all good!

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