Los Angeles Lakers legend Pau Gasol was recently inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as he was recognized for his outstanding career. Of course, the trade that brought him to L.A. was one that was controversial at the time and caused a very memorable rant from ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith, directed at Kwame Brown who was sent to the Memphis Grizzlies in the deal.
For those who don’t remember, Smith came down on Brown very hard in the aftermath of the Lakers’ trade, calling him a ‘bonafide scrub’ and saying that he could not play the game of basketball. While Brown continues to be considered one of the biggest disappointment’s as a No. 1 pick in NBA history, even Stephen A. Smith regrets how he went at Brown at that time.
In an appearance on Podcast P with Paul George, Smith explained that while he meant what he said, he didn’t know it would live on in the manner in which it has thanks to social media and hates that he caused this much pain on the former Lakers center:
“Kwame Brown, I wish I could do that over. I wouldn’t do it. I know what I said, I did mean it. I ain’t gon sit here and tell you I ain’t mean the shit I said. But I didn’t know it was gonna be like this […] Remember I said it before Twitter, Facebook. I didn’t know, 15 years later they gon have memes and videos and when I see what he says I realize how hurt he is. I mean it was a sound bite, they had just traded for Pau Gasol, they asked me this question and I’m psssh, what?
“One time I had to address it cause I felt like he was coming at me like I was scared. I can’t even tell you when I did that, the stars who called. I ain’t gonna mention no names, practically all of them was Hall of Famers and they’re like ‘nah’ and I was like where were y’all when he was saying all of this stuff for weeks, you know I didn’t say anything […] And as I see some of the clips now and some of the stuff that he says I just be like go ahead bro, say what you gotta say.”
The explosion of social media has brought back to life many moments that likely would have been forgotten a long time ago. Because of the view of Brown as a ‘bust,’ the Lakers getting an All-Star like Gasol in a trade in which Brown was the centerpiece of the package going back to Memphis was unfathomable to many and Smith made his thoughts very clear, as he is paid to do.
But as Smith said, there was no way for him to realize all of the outside issues it would cause so many years later. While the Lakers went on to hoist two championships, Brown became looked at as a joke to many and that is something Smith didn’t intend.
Mitch Kupchak recalls how Pau Gasol trade came together
While many were unhappy with the Lakers getting Gasol in such a trade, as far as former genera manager Mitch Kupchak recalls, it was the Grizzlies’ choice to go with that trade package.
Kupchak spoke on how that trade came together, saying that once he realized Gasol was available, he offered Memphis the choice of either a player-based package or one offering salary cap relief.
Then-Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace preferred the latter, headlined by Brown, and the Lakers got to work putting together the deal that would lead to two more banners hanging in the rafters.
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