LOS ANGELES — Kobe, we missed you Tuesday.
Kobe, you were well represented.
On Tuesday night, the Lakers retired Pau Gasol’s No. 16 jersey, hanging it in the rafters of Crytpo.com Arena, beside Kobe Bryant’s Nos. 8 and 24 – those men indelibly linked, their numbers symmetrically ordered, perfect companions still.
Teammates, friends, hermanos.
The Black Mamba and Black Swan, luminaries in the Lakers’ kingdom, complementary forces who worked together for NBA championships in 2009 and 2010.
Kobe earmarked that space in those rafters for Gasol, of course.
Back in 2018, he told an interviewer at an Oscars event: “Pau, when he retires, he will have his number in the rafters next to mine. Reality is, I don’t win those championships without Pau. The city of L.A. doesn’t have those two championships without Pau Gasol. We know that, everybody knows that.
“And I really look forward to the day when he’s there giving his speech at center court, in front of all the fans who supported him over the years.”
They showed that video at halftime Tuesday, when fans gathered to offer, on behalf of a city, a heartfelt and lasting thank you to the 42-year-old Spaniard who was always such a class act, such a gracious and game warrior on the court for seven seasons with the Lakers.
To cheer him and to cry with him as he paid tribute to Bryant, who died along with his daughter Gianna and seven others, in a helicopter crash in January 2020.
His cheeks wet with tears, Gasol described Bryant as “the brother who elevated me, inspired me and challenged me to be a better player, just to be a better overall human.”
Tears. Pau’s. His fans’. pic.twitter.com/JKElmxRsMy
— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) March 8, 2023
The sellout crowd punctuated his sentiments with a roar, chanting “Ko-be! Ko-be!”
And Gasol responded like a friend, a friend commiserating with friends: “I miss him so much,” he said. “I love him. I wish he was here with GiGi, I really do….
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