LOS ANGELES (AFP) — Pau Gasol, the 7-foot center who helped Spain win the world basketball crown in 2006, has been traded from the Memphis Grizzlies to the Los Angeles Lakers.
The 27-year-old Spaniard was sent to the Lakers for center Kwame Brown, guard Aaron McKie, rookie guard Jarvis Crittenton and first-round National Basketball Association Draft choices this year and in 2010.
Gasol would be the first big man from outside the United States to join in a tradition of Lakers superstar centers that included NBA legends Shaquille O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Wilt Chamberlain and George Mikan.
"We're extremely pleased to be able to make this trade," said Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak.
"Pau is a proven player of All-Star caliber in this league who can score and rebound and he's still a young player. We feel this move strengthens our team in the short term as well as the long term."
The Grizzlies also received the NBA rights to Gasol's younger brother Marc, 22, who plays in Spain and sent the Lakers a second-round 2010 draft choice.
The move will give the Lakers a more powerful presence in the middle to help ease the scoring load on guard Kobe Bryant while giving the Grizzlies salary cap room with Brown in the last year of a deal worth nine million dollars.
The Memphis newspaper also reported the Grizzlies have traded forward Stromile Swift to the New Jersey Nets for center Jason Collins that is not expected to be confirmed officially until Monday.
Gasol, who has sparkled at times with a lowly Memphis club since joining the NBA in 2001, has been linked to several trade deals in recent years but proved so vital to the Grizzlies that no deal was made until now.
The 7-footer could ease Bryant's pre-season concerns that the team was not committed to building a winning team around him, worries that nearly led him to push for a trade elsewhere.
The Lakers, 28-16 this season, rank second in the Pacific Division and fifth in the Western Conference. The play the second game in a nine-game road swing Friday at Toronto and continue the trek Sunday at Washington.
The Spaniard, set to be paid 50 million dollars over the next years, is averaging 18.9 points and 8.8 rebounds in 39 games this season, a tick above his NBA career averages of 18.8 points and 8.6 rebounds a game.
Brown, 25, has career averages of 7.6 points and 5.7 rebounds in 389 games but has been regarded as a disappointment since Michael Jordan made him the first high school player selected with the top pick in the 2001 NBA Draft for Washington. Brown averages 5.7 points and 5.7 rebounds for the Lakers.
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