It’s no secret that out of all the trades that went down this year, the most significant may have been the one that brought Pau Gasol from Memphis to the Lakers. But what if things had gone differently? You know, things like Chicago throwing in more draft picks to entice the Grizzlies or Gasol following his family’s line of work and gone into science. Well, we actually think he means a doctor but he didn’t want to upset his dad, Spain’s answer to Gaylord Focker.

I did one year of medical school, so I was kind of going for the doctor thing. My mom is a doctor and my dad a nurse. Kind of runs in the family. I’ve always been very identified with medicine and science. It goes back 15 years. If you asked me what I wanted to become, I would have said a scientist.

I wanted to investigate and find remedies for all the big illnesses that affect us. So that’s what I wanted to do, so that’s why I ended up choosing medicine to study at the time. But I couldn’t keep up with it. I had to chose between b-ball and medicine. I chose basketball.

You gotta respect that. It’s not like he chose between ball or… ugh… “communications” like most of the player’s cards you see during the NCAA tournament.

Up close and personal with the Lakers’ Pau Gasol [LA Times]
Image [LA Times]