I vividly remember February 1st, 2008. I was working at an insurance job that I hated in downtown Los Angeles at the time, furtively stealing glances at LakersGround and ESPN when the bosses weren’t around. Chris Vernon of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reported that morning that there were trade talks between the Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies involving Pau Gasol, and I was frantically hitting F5 to refresh websites in a world where Twitter was in its infancy, like a savage.
And then it happened. Pau Gasol and a 2010 second round pick to the Lakers for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, 2008 and 2010 first round picks, and Marc Gasol, the mere 48th pick in the 2007 draft.