Los Angeles Lakers: 10 best power forwards in team history

2. Pau Gasol (2008-14)

The Los Amgeles Lakers were floundering as a franchise before Pau Gasol arrived. The 7-footer helped bring championships back to L.A. and helped cement the legacy of the man who is arguably the the Lakers’ greatest player.

In the three seasons since L.A. had traded Shaq in 2004, the team had missed the playoffs once and exited in the first round of the playoffs twice. Kobe was dominating individually, but he’d grown so frustrated that he publicly requested to be traded.

The Lakers acquired Gasol, an All-Star with the Memphis Grizzlies, in a trade on Feb. 1, 2008. He and Kobe proceeded to lead L.A. to the NBA Finals that year, where they lost to the Celtics. Kobe and Pau then came back to lead the Lakers to back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010.

For Kobe, proving he could win it all without Shaq silenced a lot of his critics.

Winning league MVP in 2007-08 and Finals MVPs in 2009 and 2010 allowed him to gain traction in the never-ending “G.O.A.T.” debate alongside Michael Jordan and other icons. Kobe has never hesitated to acknowledge how important Gasol was to his career.

Gasol averaged 17.7 points, 9.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks per game during his six and a half seasons with the Lakers. He was voted All-NBA three times and was an All-Star three times.

Some people still argue that Gasol should have won Finals MVP in 2010. He averaged 18.6 points, 11.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game in that series against the Celtics.

In Game 7, Gasol put up 19 points and 18 rebounds against Boston’s front line featuring Kevin Garnett and Rasheed Wallace.

Gasol left L.A. as a free agent in 2014.

He is pretty much a lock for the Hall of Fame when you combine his NBA resume with his international career that has included three Olympic medals with the Spanish national team, a FIBA World Cup gold medal, and two championships in Spain’s top pro league.