Pau Gasol was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday, entering the ranks of the game’s greatest players. With Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers, Gasol earned six All-Star berths, four All-NBA choices, and two NBA championships.
Now that his career is over, with a Hall of Fame induction as the icing on the cake, he can reflect on his place in NBA history. Before the induction ceremony, Gasol was asked to name his top ten all-time players, a frequent question for the game’s all-time greats.
According to Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times, Gasol commented on the subjectivity of questions like these before answering with an unranked top 10 that includes 11 players:
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Russell, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, LeBron James, and Stephen Curry are just a few of the names that come to mind.
Gasol was informed that the number was 11. He just grinned and shrugged.
Gasol’s list contains four Lakers — Kareem Adbul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Bryant, and LeBron James — as well as many of the standard top 10 themes, like as Tim Duncan, Larry Bird, Bill Russell, and, of course, Michael Jordan.
Stephen Curry has recently emerged as a popular choice to rank among the top ten greatest players of all time, and Gasol appears to agree. Kevin Garnett and Dirk Nowitzki, two more outstanding power forwards of the 2000s with Gasol, are the two more intriguing selections.
Gasol said why the trio of Duncan, Nowitzki, and Garnett had to make his list:
“They were my three top power forwards that I used to model my game after and try to beat to become one of the league’s better power forwards,” Gasol explained. “Those were references I made while playing over the years.” As a result, they are quite unique. And Dirk is certainly on that list because, in addition to being international, the way he revolutionized the game is quite distinctive, which I believe is relevant and has an impact on European and international players.”
Gasol’s top ten lists are a good indication of who he is as a player. It features many of the typical suspects, but it also allowed Gasol to express gratitude to guys who helped shape his game. He’s always been quick to compliment those around him before himself.
Gasol now joins a Hall of Fame that already includes or will very probably include all of the players on his list.