Pau Gasol: That second—after we misplaced to the Mavs, proper earlier than coaching camp—was loopy. The commerce that was alleged to occur however didn’t, it rattled us. Lamar was concerned, and as an alternative of going to New Orleans, he ended up in Dallas—the staff that had simply overwhelmed us. That needed to be powerful for him mentally. After which I stayed, however issues weren’t the identical. Phil Jackson stepped away as head coach, Mike Brown got here in, and the dynamics modified. We needed to modify. We did one of the best we might, but it surely wasn’t the identical. It wasn’t ok to get again to the place we needed to be.”* -via YouTube / March 18, 2025
