Griz GM on Trading Gasol: ‘Set us up for the future’

“I think the deal that set us up for the future was the Pau Gasol trade,” said (GM Chris) Wallace, who described the atmosphere surrounding the team at that time as “non-electric.”

“I felt we set ourselves up for the future, and if the Lakers win a championship, so be it,” Wallace said. “Both teams are supposed to, in theory, profit in a trade. That’s not my problem what the Lakers got out of it or what issues it caused competitors of the Lakers. I’m working for the Grizzlies and trying to set our franchise up for the future, and I think as time has proven, nobody had a deal that put us in a position to chart a new course for the future like that deal did, and it worked out.”

Source: AJ Neuharth-Keusch of USA TODAY Sports