Kobe Bryant tells Lakers Management to End the Pau Gasol Rumors

courtesy SBNationArizona
After the Lakers loss to the Phoenix Suns, a group of reporters surrounded Kobe Bryant and the topic of Pau Gasol and the trade rumors swirling around him came up.

Kevin Ding, a longtime Lakers beat writer for the O.C.Register was there and got down these quotes:

Kobe just put Lakers management on point with postgame statements to trade Pau Gasol or say they’re not going to trade him.

— KEVIN DING (@KevinDing) February 20, 2012

Kobe said he’d prefer Lakers don’t trade Pau but said a decision needs to be made for Gasol to put his “whole heart” into game.

— KEVIN DING (@KevinDing) February 20, 2012

Kobe called Pau “consummate professional” but said: “If your head’s on the chopping block, it’s hard to put all of yourself into the game.”

— KEVIN DING (@KevinDing) February 20, 2012

After catching up with Kobe, Kevin caught up with Pau Gasol to see what he’s feeling right now about the trade rumors:

Pau Gasol: “I’m not trying to force things; I’m not trying to force the team if they want to trade me to trade me tomorrow.”

— KEVIN DING (@KevinDing) February 20, 2012

Pau: “It would be nice to know one way or the other for my mind’s sake, but I don’t know if I’m in a position to really demand that at all.

— KEVIN DING (@KevinDing) February 20, 2012

As you can see, the cat is out of the bag and with the Lakers’ up and down season, the fans are calling for change. The team’s management knows there needs to be change, but the question now is going to be about what kind of change there’s going to be.

With all this uncertainty around the Lakers roster combined with the unpredictability of the Lakers rotations, it’s extremely tough for anyone to ask the players to focus on the task at hand – to win and practice for success.