Subpar - Pau Gasol talks winning his first ever tournament at Cal Club, his friendship with Kobe Bryant

Episode Date: October 28, 2025

On this week's episode of GOLF's Subpar, Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz are joined by Basketball Hall of Famer Pau Gasol for an exclusive interview. The 2-time NBA Champion reveals why his relationship with Kobe Bryant grew stronger once they were no longer teammates, what it was like picking up golf at the age of 39 and if he gets nervous playing major celebrity events at the Ryder Cup or Pebble Beach. --Bet with Fanatics Sportsbook and earn up to 10% FanCash back, win or lose. Millions are being given away this year, and you can use your FanCash across the entire Fanatics Universe. Download the app today. Fanatics Sportsbook. Winning hits different here.https://joinfanatics.com/subparMust be 21+. GAMBLING PROBLEM? Call 1-800-GAMBLER, CT call [phone], MA call (800)-327-5050, NY call (877) 8-HOPENY, MD visit ⁠mdgamblinghelp.org⁠  Not available in all states. Terms apply. See Fanatics Sportsbook app.--Choose your style, pick your favorite Birdie Juice logo and shop from a line-up of top tier brands at ⁠https://shop.golf.com/pages/storefront/golfsp⁠ today!

All right, how we doing, everyone? Welcome back to Golf Subpar with Colt, Nost, and Drew Stultz. And all year long guys have heard us talk about Fanatic Sportsbook. We've run some great promotions with them, interviewed C.Ce Sabathia at Fanatics Fest and talked about fan cash. One thing we haven't talked about yet, though, is fair play. Injuries are part of the game, even in golf. But when an injury takes your bet and your sportsbook leaves you hanging, that hurts. That's why Fanatic Sportsbook hits different. They've got fair play coverage for you. Fanatic Sportsbook protects all pro football and pro basketball player prop bets from first half injuries. This isn't just protection. It's real value for your plays. Fanatics is the home of fair

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What a mess that is. Yeah. You want to talk about it? That's a nightmare. Well, I mean, yeah, there's not a ton of stuff going on. I feel like we should. That's a pretty big story. That is, I think every league.

There's some massive stuff going on. Every, okay, there's some other things going on. That's like the worst case scenario for a pro sports league. I mean, you start to lose the integrity of the actual games. Yeah. And the people play. Now, these aren't like former players that have a friend on the team that are like, hey, so-and-so's out.

These are dudes that are playing and coaching. I don't know. That's, it feels like, and then the mob, I don't even know the mob was still really bad active. Apparently they are. I mean, look, all the details haven't come out yet. It's not great, but like you said, yeah, the integrity of the game with how big gambling is now, it's horrible. And also, Terry, 26 million is more than 200,000.

I don't know if you know that. You could just stick to making the 26 milly a year and all is good. I know you want to help your buddies out. Maybe give them each of a little cash here and there. But throwing games, man, that's just, this is a big problem. That's my guy, Chauncey, too. Love Chauncey. Park Hill's finest.

Denver, Colorado. One of our only NBA guys ever. Legend around there. And I've always been like the stand-up guy, you know? Like never had any issues. Any of that sort of thing. But, yeah, current player on a monster contract, being like, hey, you want to make an extra 10 grand?

I just can't understand. Also, it's prop bets on him. I can't imagine the market's just flooding those bets in there on a weekly basis. So if all of a sudden you start getting guys putting $200K on you to short your point total, might raise an eyebrow. And also, I would have to think once you do see, like, oh, this is kind of weird. I mean, this is a lot more money than normal on a prop bet. And this has happened a few times.

And every time he doesn't play very much of the game. And he normally sits out. And also this guy's his cousin. Yeah. So, like, what do we do we do here? The poker games are just wild. I mean, what? The X-ray glasses and shit and tables?

Yeah. I need some of that. There's some weird. Yeah. Let's go ahead and do it. Lamb, come blame me. Well,

yeah, it was just, it was crazy that all happened because I was up at Vegas playing the member guest with Ben Lamb, one of the best poker players in the world. We're up there to Southern Holland. And obviously everyone's asking him all about this. And he's like,

yeah, man. Has they ever been a part of any of these? He says he's definitely pretty confident he's been cheated before at a home game. Like doesn't really play much anymore. But, man, it's scary. The technology they have, Like, I know he would, he obviously knows a lot more about this than most, but I mean, there's some weird stuff between the glasses.

I believe there's some, like, I don't know if there's the barcode you can install in like the side of the cards to where you kind of know exactly what's going to happen with the hand before it even starts, which is possibly one of the things. I mean, it's some weird stuff going on. And we're talking guys that have lost millions of dollars at these games and they've been cheated out of it. It's probably why I've been losing a gin. Yeah. It's cheating bastards. Harrington. Harrington's got those glasses.

You got new glasses? I didn't even know you had eye problems. It's scary, man. It's going to be interested to see what happens with all this. If they get found guilty of all the stuff they're accused of like, that's just like, that's lifetime ban, all the stuff gone. I mean,

they won't step foot in an NBA arena or locker room ever again. I mean, imagine if a golfer came out like, oh, you're missing, you know, like missing pots on purpose or things. Once you jeopardize the integrity of the sport, that's the number one thing. That was the big issue when gambling like came out. But on, you know, people that say when you, when you, you know, put this much emphasis on sports gambling, this is what's going to happen. But by the way, this could have been happening in the past before it was regulated with like the actual sports book that brought it to light to the NBA.

It says, hey, dude, there's some weird stuff going on behind this guy. It would have never been caught. That's Charles. You just keep doing it. This is stupidity. It ain't smart. No. But let's get on a little fun golf because Michael Brennan, who what a story.

This is. Bank of Utah Championship. This guy who's been playing on PGA Tour Americas, which obviously is a great tour, but that's below the Corn Fairy Tour. He had won three times out there. He had won three times out there. He was going to definitely be on Corn Fairy Tour in 2026, was going to try to go to Q School and get his PGA tour card through there.

Gets a sponsor exemption out in Utah and just dominates. And I'll be honest, never seen this guy hit a golf ball before. I didn't see much Thursday, Friday, Saturday because of the member guests. I turned it on Sunday. And the first T-shot I hit, I see him hit, is 192 mile an hour ball speed. It goes 412. And I was like, who the hell is this guy? I'd never, no one, unless you're friends with him or play the Americas tour or you're that age and coming up.

Because he was a beast at Wake Forest, won eight times at Wake Forest. He was really good. Like third most wins of all time behind Curtis Strange and Bill Haas. Like, so he was a dude. But no one's ever heard his name at the pro level, played America's tour, you know, PJ Americas last year. Okay. came back this year, caught fire late, won three times, got the promotion. I think, like, just over a month ago is when he finally got the third win.

And then did not, so he's a corned ferry tour, remember right off the jump, but it was like playoff season, so he's not in anything, didn't play in any of them, and just basically just skipped the entire cornfairy tour. Now he's on the PJ tour. We had one corn fairy start earlier this year in June, first week of June, missed cut, that was the only one he's played. And this was just his third tour ever. I was the same as you though.

I looked at the leaderboard. I was like, who are some of these guys? Like, no offense to the Bank of Utah championship. I was like, this is not the star-studded leaderboard. And then I looked on social media on Twitter, and they had some clips. It was highlights. And I was like, Jesus. Same thing I saw.

It was like, 1-902. It looks so, I mean, it looks really good, doesn't it? Yeah, other than the 3-1-18. Like, this kid didn't miss a shot, basically, the entire day. Cruise to a victory, beat Rico Hoey by, you know, ended up beat by 4. Four, yeah. Nice little run for,

Rico, holy, too. Needed some good golf this fall to keep his card. Just went fourth second, last two starts. So that helps. Max Homa just announced this was his last tournament of the season. Finished tied for ninth down there, doing some ankle issues. Yeah, it was limp and hard. Got a bone spur.

He told me, and it normally doesn't flare up like this, but I guess this past week was just extremely bad. Also, they've put the band back together, working with Mark Blackburn again. So hopefully Max gets the game back to where it is, but he's going to shut down for the rest of the year. But that's what these fall events are all about, man. These guys got a chance to make a name for themselves. It's a nice event in, too, a top 10, like, you know, rough season, but at least something

to build on. These are the cool stories that possibly could be going away with how it's limited fields and all that as in a closed shop, which I think is so unfortunate because if this is 2026, I don't know if Michael Brennan's getting this opportunity. And now he's a BGA tour winner. I mean, I heard Johnson Wagner say there, as they were closing off the broadcast yesterday, He thinks this kid can be a real star out on the PGA tour. The way he plays, the way he carries himself, it was cool to watch.

One of the first things I thought about was like, this isn't going to happen going forward. There's so much talent in golf. You would never, if I said, hey, there's a dude on the PGA Tour America's that I think we'll win in a runaway. You'd be like, no, there's not. Like, there's gaps. There's levels. But there are. I'm not saying there's a ton of them, but that's not even the second tier tour.

That's not even the Corn Ferry Tour. That's the Americas. What do you think we got on the Cornfrey Tour? Just making it harder and harder for these guys to get out. out there, the young guys especially, thank God we have PJ two or you now, which at least gives them an opportunity for these top, top guys to get out there. But I mean, Brennan, to go back to the way he swings it, dude, he average is Utah. I got it. There's altitude. I know. Over 350 off the T and he missed six fairways for the week. And one of them was Greenside Rough on a

par four that he hit it four or something down there right next to a bunker. You know who missed more than six fairways? I bet. Taylor Montgomery. I, it's a wide open golf course. But, you know, it's a wide open golf course. But if you miss it before he, it's stress. He buried the last four on Friday to shoot two over. Hey, good finish. I was like, why you show us some heart, dog? Good finish.

That all counts on the scoring average. Yeah, tough. Your golf bet hit. Stephen Yeager. Stephen Yeager. Birdie maker, got it done. So hopefully you're over there at Fanatic Sportsbook, downloaded the app, and put some cash on Stephen Yeager.

Who was your football? Indiana smashed. Oh, 25. I told you. UCLA was, that was a whole other animal they ran into this week. I did not disagree with you. I think from my money, Indiana's. best team in the country right now. If you'd go on what you've seen on the football field,

I don't think anyone's better than them. Uh, I didn't 25, 45 in a hook or whatever was a lot of points. That thing was done super fast. Yeah. I, if you watch the pick six on like the first snap more or less from UCLA and that was all she wrote. Yeah, I didn't, I didn't get to watch much this week. I was really focused on a golf tournament. You were, we're going to get to in just one second. Shout out, uh, reverse shout out to the Virginia cavaliers who've screwed me. Yeah. Yeah. Overtime against the fighting. But I will say, It might stop shorting Carolina now. They actually have a little bit of a pulse.

Your other bet, the Denver Broncos. I will say fast pay makes fast friends. This was just comical, comical. The Cadillus Cowboys. It was so fun. The first series was cool when we intercepted it. Our defense doesn't do shit, and they actually did intercept it,

and they go down there, should have scored a touchdown, got a field goal. And then it was just, I laughed the entire way. I was like, hey, there's a receiver over there, and no one's within 10 yards of him. This is pretty easy for the Broncos. They were so open at times. I was like, you know what I remind you?

Everyone knows these golf courses. Either I'm in college or in high school, when you get a course on the schedule, you're like, oh, that's a good one for the stroke average. Like everyone, we kill that course. I'm going to shoot something low there. Good for my stats. That's just a straight stat game on the offensive side. I mean, not only are they wide open, part of it's because they've got to cover them for

four seconds because there's no one back there, pressure in the quarterback. But when you give them a ton of time and they're wide open, I mean, I was just like, dude, I think we could score virtually any time we wanted to. The one thing we had going is your man, Riley Moss kept cheating. He's, they were picking on Riley. I think there was some, there's a couple of legit ones, one or two. Come on. We got to give the guy the benefit of the doubt one time, don't we?

They're out there on an island. They won't. And went down too. I paid up. That was a rough one. I'm not even going to rub it in. It's not worth it. There's no.

Broncos are good. Bo Nix, man. They figured it out. So nice. I mean, all about you guys stay healthy though but let's get to some more picks real quick this week no golf tournament so we're going to go football three team money line parlay money lines so no more huge faves huge dogs well you can it's just right it's good we're going to boost this thing

over for the addicts um we're going to start out with a team that's so much fun to watch and what a story heading to austin texas the doors of vanderbell down there plus one 15 against the long horns who have not looked good all year except against Oklahoma. It's shocking to me that they're catching points down there as bad as, you know, as good as they've been. Most teams, too, coming off the two LSU, they were on the brink of fire of retiring Brian Kelly and then A&M went ahead and handled that for him. But winning that game and then Missouri, another close, big game.

Sometimes I think like maybe a letdown game, but this team just feels like they got a, I mean, they don't feel like it. They got a chip on their shoulder. They're going, they've looked miles better than Texas this year. At UT, we'll see, but I love that. Plus money. Vanderbilt might be the best football team in Nashville. Yeah, right there. They're right there.

Things are not going well. Also, did you happen to see the Pat McAfee Field Goal contest? Yeah. The guy, I mean, that was good from 55. Yeah. Soccer player. Yeah, he's nice. And then he did the McAfee Golf Swing celebration right in front of him.

That was good. I like that. All right, we're going Vanderbilt plus 115. I'm going to go in the NFL world for a little money line pick here, a guy that used to be in Nashville. Mike Vrable leading the New England Patriots. They are in first place. They are playing some great football head into Atlanta,

who I never know what you're going to get from Atlanta. But it's minus $2.50. So it's a pretty big money line spread. But I like New England in this one. Yeah, Pinnock didn't play this last week. Kirkgo Banks didn't have his best stuff. He's still awesome, though. Actually go to the NFL too.

Oh, boy, this is not normal. It's rare for me. But when we're going money line, like there's so many big spreads in college, it's not as good. So I'm going to go to the team we just talked about. I think Denver Broncos are figuring out right now. This week was a nice little confidence booster.

If we get Sir Tan back, I don't think that's super serious at this point. Who knows? But we're going down to Houston, minus 115. Okay. So we got the Broncos, the Patriots, Vanderbilt, all money line. Make sure you go over to Fanatic Sportsbook. Follow along with us there. Now, all right, let's get to it right now because this is honestly a first for me.

Played member guests up in Las Vegas, Southern Highlands. I was trying to remember I don't think I've ever won a member guest played in quite a few of them They're hard to win When you're handicapped plus five Yeah for all you haters out there Which by the way

There's some on social media now There's no haters I shouldn't be allowed to play in a member guest Pros shouldn't be allowed to I was like I think you should be in prison Personally it's what it sounds like Is what I think

But you know what do I matter But I think this is our fifth or sixth year heading up there to Vegas Me and Lamb We've made the shoot out the last several years But never been able to get it done this year Sleez we brought it all home i played as a plus five my man played as a five and uh cruise through our flight pretty good am and egg did nice we go to the shootout okay three holes for me okay yeah

okay it's it stays as a shamble three holes the strokes are still in play so uh 16 17 18 at southern highlands 11 teams start top four and ties move on well one team got eliminated on the first tall. And I got to give a shout that was my man Joby and James Lockeman. Big number. Yeah, they made double from like 40 yards. Okay. Which was sweet. It can happen. Use my drive. Lamb from

94 yards hits it to two inches. It's a great wedge player. Tap in Bertie. I was like, holy shit. That's awesome. But we make Bertie. One other team makes birdie. We go to 17, the great par three there, over the water, tough. Backright Penn. 200 yards into the wind. Lamb hits it first in the back bunker.

And it's not good back. there with how fast these greens are running up there. I hit Gary, a little four hybrid back right, started right over by the water. Draws goes to about three feet. I have to give back. I miss. Lamb misses. So we make part of,

we're still advancing. Yeah. Mine didn't matter because I had to give back. I was putting two for three. Okay. So we go to 18. We got two teams tied. I hit first.

I hit it the fairway. Lamb hits it left of the world over on the first fairway. So we play mine. But safe. Okay. I love my man Ben Lamb. He gets nervous when there's water in play. He'll flip your card for a million bucks, but he gets little nervous when there's some water

in play. Tries to hit it down the left fairway at Southern Highlands. It's this high yaw that just covers the creek and goes into the right part of the fairway down below, which was not where we were looking. He's stroking as well. Okay. 106 yards back into the wind coming up the hill, back right pin. He nervous, wipes his hands several times.

I might have backed off. He's like, do you like this yardage? Do you like this yardage? Gap wedge, hits the slope, goes down, six inches. Lambie. Combined, we had like, our three birdie puts were four feet. They gave it to him. That's how close his approach shot was because it was over.

We went right there. He makes birdie net eagle. And they had a mark on it, but he's like, they're like, it's good. It was six inches max. I was like, dude, tap it in for the victories. A couple hundred people behind the ground. It'll look great. He goes, no, am I missing?

No, no, I'm picking it up. Never put one that's given to you. It was hilarious, but, man, we had so much fun. Congrats on the big dub. Thank you. I love that. Shout out to Lammy for coming through on a couple of those as well. Yeah.

And now, basically, ever since I've- Water does. Dude, it's hilarious with waters and play. That's why out here, it's funny. The desert on both sides, like which way you want to freak out on it. He played awesome. We haven't egged it very nice, but it was a hell of a week. Shout out to Southern Hollings, their staff.

Golf course was phenomenal. Greens were 13, just beautiful. Weather was great. everyone out there that put on the event. It is, it is so much fun. Love going out there. And we finally got the dub.

But Ben told me, like, if you win, the next year, they, like, add two strokes to your handicap. So apparently I'll be playing as a plus seven.

No matter, you could be shitty next year, too. Yeah, then you go up some. Yeah, some people, I don't necessarily hate it. I don't necessarily know

if I love it, but they're hard, like, you're saying, that might be the first member guests you want. They're hard to win. Yeah. Plus five, you're normally giving strokes to everybody.

It's hard to win. You're giving low handicaps normally, you know, four shots on nine holes. Like, they make cars. It was, it was an awesome time. And one of the things he's doing now, this year, he made me stay at his house instead of down on the strip where all the fun happens. And we win.

Well, now what do you think? Well, I don't know. I got a FaceTime from you, not from his house. It's true. We still bet you're down. I was like, I slapped. I was like, here we go. Yep, here we go.

And there's exactly what you think. But shout out to Lammy. It wants to come back on, talk about it a little bit. But all right. Well, that was a lot of fun. Let's get to our guest this week. One of the best to ever do it. Two-time NBA champion.

Hall of Famer, the great Paul Gasol, joins us on subpar. All right, ladies and gents, our guest today spent 18 years in the NBA where he won two NBA championships. It was a six-time All-Star, rookie of the year, now a Hall of Famer as well. Before he took his talents to the golf course, we are very pleased to welcome Powell Gasol in the house. How we doing, pal? I'm doing great. Thank you for having me, guys. Good to have you, man.

Thank you, Pau. I really appreciate you coming on with us. When you say 18 years, are you surprised? I mean, that is a long time. Can you believe you played 18 years in the NBA? Yeah, yeah. I mean, I try to stretch it out a little longer. But yeah, it goes by fast, really.

I mean, it's a while. No doubt about it, but it goes by super fast. And again, I was, if it wasn't for my foot injury, I would have tried to, I mean, I try to play my 19th season. I signed with the Blazers. And during training camp, I got re-injured my foot and fractured it. So I couldn't play my 19th season, even though I did the preseason of it. But yeah, you know, loved it, loved every second of it.

Now players, you get to see them also, some of them at least, also stretch their careers that far, which is exceptional and great. So, you know, it was a fun ride. I got to quite, real quick, since you mentioned a foot injury, What size shoe do you wear? 17. Okay. Oh, nice.

Give two of yours. Yes. Just cut out the toe. Still, I think they're big enough. Pal, you mentioned your last year and, you know, the foot injury, but otherwise, you stayed, like, very healthy, especially for a big man throughout his group. Is there any, like, secrets that you had right now? Because I feel like nowadays, getting guys through multiple years in the NBA without having a substantial injury is tough. Yeah, I mean, you got to take care of yourself.

You got to be a good professional and understand what you need to do. in order to continue to do what you do at a high level for a long period of time. So details matter and, you know, and daily actions matter. So just being disciplined to your daily routine, your approach, your habits, you know, on and off the court. And off the court, it's just as important as you do on the court. So just, you know, appreciating the opportunity that you've got and being, being very mindful about it. That's the kind of thing to me what allowed me to play all those years,

because also my summers were pretty busy with my national team. I committed to play with my national team pretty much every summer. The three summers that I didn't play was because of injuries. And so again, you have to be extra, I guess extra careful and intentional about everything that you do. finding your right balance, because for every player is a little different. And for everybody, it's a little different. Every, you know, we're not built all the same, and you have to find your sweet spot, know how much you can push yourself, how much you should rest and recover mentally,

physically. You have to have a great team around you to be able to also help you with that. So it's not all just subjective. So that was a big part of it too. Building a great team of professionals around me to help me navigate all that was important because you have to trust and rely on them as well. You mentioned your routine and I'm always fascinated talking to athletes about their lead-in to games and everything. And I'm guessing doing this for 18 years, like you probably had a rather consistent routine. I did.

Yeah, I did. You know, some athletes they call your have, I don't know, obsessions, right? obsessions or or you are what did it call it? Super stitious. If you don't do a certain thing, you think something bad's going to happen or you're going to have a bad game. I was, yeah, as you said, I think I was more of a routine type of guy and I think we all are, we're all creatures of habit.

So my routine was kind of like getting up, having a good breakfast. As I progressed in my career, my routine evolved and changed. So I understood that I needed to do more mobility in the morning, even do more like strengthening exercises for my ankles and for my shoulders, you know, the little things. Then usually we have shoot-around, depending on the schedule, if it's a back-to-back, usually you don't have shoot-around that second game. And then as I grew older, some coaches, you know, in mid to late season, they, you know, with veteran teams, you choose not to have shoot-around.

So then you have to be more of a mental preparation for the game. But then I would have usually the same lunch. I would have a plate of pasta and some protein, some chicken usually as a second dish. Then I would take my nap before games, usually for evening games. I would have we would have eventually or occasionally afternoon games. And obviously that doesn't apply to that. And I would have my nap. And then I would go into the game usually, you know, two and a half hours, two hours before the game.

Start with my routine there, do my stretching, do my mobility, do my activation, do my shooting routine for 10 minutes before the game, get my 100, 150 shots in. And I kept that routine pretty consistent throughout my career. and then yeah and then get ready to play and listen to my music get in that mode and get going what was the music to get in the mode you know it changed it changed but usually usually hip-hop music usually i had to again you have to listen to yourself where you are also emotionally so sometimes you need a little more kind of like ramp up music you know, hype up music. Some of the times you need more like, honey, I need something to calm me down a little bit more.

You know, so you need to be in tune with where you are facing that particular game, that particular moment of the season. So sometimes they say, I just need to calm down. I need to bring that excitement that I have going on right now. And sometimes they, hey, no, I need something to give me going a little bit and get that aggressiveness, you know, to surface and being that kind of like competitive mode. So it changed, but usually it was hip-hop, even though a lot of guys were like, oh, what is Bob listening to? And he was, ah, they might be listening to some opera or some classical music because I had, you know, I had refined taste.

and I consider myself as a culture guy and with multiple interests in music and arts and so forth and world. So yeah, but yeah, hip-hop rap was my go-to usually. I like it. I want to go back to draft day for you because I think that's always just such a special time in every athlete's career, but for you coming over from Spain,

obviously knew you were going to be one of the top picks in the draft in 2001. But can you take us through that day leading up to it and where did you think you were going to go? Yeah, it was. It was a crazy day. It was my first time being in the U.S. Oh, wow. Period.

I was 20 years old. I was there because I was supposed to be a lottery pick. And that was the top 13 guys at the time. And I was supposed to, the way he was supposed to play out, I was going to be the ninth or tenth pick, supposedly by the Boston Celtics that had those two picks. and I would go back to Spain, play another year with FC Barcelona where I was playing, and then come to the NBA the year after.

But then my agent, the night before, we went to dinner and said, I'm getting calls from teams that, you know, would you come next year if you were selected top five? So, well, I have to pay a buyout to my team because I'm under a hundred contract, but all the salaries are pretty much defined. So I said, okay, I think, you know, economically would make sense. I guess I could negotiate with my team and we come to an agreement and it wouldn't be too bad. But, you know, it was more like to me the mindset of like, okay, this is happening right

here right now. You know, do I, will I jump on that train? Will I do, do I think I'm ready or, you know, because at the time, you know, I was the second Spanish player do I ever play in the NBA? You know, international players were already present, but they weren't like, you know, as, I guess, as big in numbers as they have been in the last 20 years. So, you know, it was a gamble. But I said, yeah, I mean, that's my goal, right? That's my dream. I want to play in the NBA. I feel like I want to prove myself. I I felt like I needed another year, but the opportunity is here.

And if someone believes in me that much, I will take that on. So the year, that day, draft day, I see number one. Number one is elected. At that time, high school players were, you know, were part of the draft, and you could, you could select them. So that was a big high school year with Kwame Brown going number one. I think it was Tyson Chandler

or Eddie Curry number two and then I could see I could see the cameras positioned themselves in front of the table of the player before they were called up right so I'm like okay so then I see it before the number third pick did the cameras go to my table

I'm like holy shit what's going on they got it they think they're getting it wrong and no and David Stern at the time A number of third pick was by the Atlanta Hawks, but that pick was already traded to Memphis before the election. So I knew that pick was going to Memphis.

And Atlanta selected me with the number third pick of the draft, and I couldn't believe it. And that's where my MBA journey started. Yeah, and you spent all of your life living in Spain. You come from Barcelona. You've never stepped foot in the States, and then you land in Memphis, Tennessee. Those are two pretty different places.

What was the culture shock like when you first touched down in Memphis? Yeah, quite a contrast. And as you described it, a cultural shock and adjustment. But to me, bottom line, I was fulfilling my dream. I was playing in the best league in the world with the best players. I landed in Memphis. I could have landed somewhere else. and, you know, I got to know a city.

It was a lot of interesting factors there because the team just moved from Vancouver to Memphis that year. So we were just a brand new team, professional team that landed in a new city. I was a brand new, you know, player landing into a new city, into a new country. And at the time, the team, we played a couple years at the pyramid. I don't know if you guys been to Memphis, but I was like, wow, NBA teams play in pyramids here. They don't play in NBA arenas or basketball areas. They play in pyramids.

This is something unique. And, you know, obviously I had to adjust to a lot of things. I was lucky that my family made the commitment to come and join me in that journey and that adventure. My parents both, they were in the medical field, both, you know, put their careers on hold. My brothers left their schools to join me in that dream. And, you know, I'll forever be thankful to them of the sacrifice that they made. And then once they came, we rented an apartment, a three-bedroom apartment, and we lived there. And I knew that no matter what happened on the basketball court, I would go home and I would have my family, I would have a home

cooked meal, and that was a very solid pillar for me and anchor that I could just rely on. And then when it came to the court, you know, I had to earn respect from my teammates. I had to earn respect from my coaches. And then consequently, then I would go after my opponents. And then if I earned the respect from them, I know that I could, you know, I could play and I could go out there and prove myself because I had a lot of, you know, you could say the tractors at the time. It's like who did we pick? Is this guy, this skinny guy that looks like he's 18, but he's about me. I just turned 21 at that point.

And nobody really knew me at the time. So I had to prove myself, which I was ready for the challenge. And little by little, I just made Memphis my home and then my brother, Mark, played 10 years after me. So there, so, you know, it's great to have left a mark in that city in that community. Yeah, you definitely did. One of the best ever put on the Memphis jersey. But then one thing for us being golfers, like, we don't get traded. We kind of, you know, move around tour to tour, so be it.

But we don't get traded. You get the call, you're getting traded to the Lakers. And part of that trade is your brother. What was that moment like for you and your family? It was crazy. It's crazy in many ways because getting traded in the middle of the season, you know, it's kind of a, you know, it's a shock within itself. But I was kind of ready at that point.

You know, the franchise was going through another rebuild. Michael Heisley, the owner was on the process of selling. the team. They pretty much, you know, Jerry West, who was the GM the year before, you know, had his hands tied. It was a year, year and a half that the team kind of took a step backwards after making the playoffs three years in a row. And we were kind of like in a rebuild team, a rebuild situation and modes. And I was ready at that point to be in a more competitive, you know, moment and in place. So I was lucky that I was traded to the Lakers. And it took me a while to process that, but a while that I didn't have. But I was obviously so, so thankful that I had the opportunity.

I felt like I gave my all to the Grizzlies during that time. And now it was a new chapter. It was crazy that my brother was part of the deal. I had spent that that probably was five, six months of the five months of the season, kind of gave him the our GM, who was Chris Wallace at the time, a hard time for not having drafted him, for not having traded for him after the draft night, because he was playing so well in Spain, he ended up being the MVP of the league that season. And then, you know, Chris Wallace purposely left my brother Mark's name when he went over all the names that were in the package for me, you know, left it the last, to, you know, to know

to know that he was part of the deal and Mark was coming to Memphis. So, so anyway, I was, again, it was exciting. It was a great opportunity. I try to take full advantage of it. That was what I was determined to do. But it's hard to kind of like change homes like that. I mean, I was a single guy at the time, but imagine players that are with families, with kids in school, with wives, It's part of the business. It's probably one of the hardest part of the business. But it is what it is. And you got to move on and you got to make the best out of the next team or the next opportunity.

Yeah, you made the most of it. You go over there and get a couple NBA championships. But going from Memphis to L.A., one of the smallest markets in the NBA to arguably the biggest with the most eyeballs on you. And then on top of that, you're coming into a locker room that has one of the best to ever play the game. And Kobe Bryant. What is that like when you enter that locker room for the first time? Even though you're a great player, is there a certain sense of pressure,

I've got to live up to this guy's standard? Yeah, I mean, it helped to be welcome in such a unique and warm way from the team, from the coach, from Phil Jackson to Cope, to the rest of the guys. I think they welcome me not just with open arms, with a lot of, I think, passion and excitement. And to me, I just recognized that that was the opportunity that I was hoping to get and that I wanted to make the most out of it and that I had to give my all and my best

in order to take full advantage of it. And that's what I did. Goviguel welcome me and said, hey, welcome. I'm super excited. like even on the first night when I landed to Washington, D.C., where the team was and the team was playing the next day after my physical. But it's time, let's go win a championship. You know, he was just about winning.

You know, so I think from a mindset perspective, when you go from a situation where you're not expected to win or you're not thinking about winning, even though we all want to win, right? We all say, hey, I've liked to win. You know, I'm playing to win. but are you actually approaching the game to win? And he wanted to, you know, he wanted to make sure that I was in that different mindset, that I came, I was coming from a different situation,

but this is where we are right now, right here, and you and I are going to make this work, and we're going to get after it, and our goal is to win a championship, nothing short of winning a championship matters. And we put ourselves in a position to win the first year. We were lost against the Celtics in 2008, but it was just part of our journey and part of our growth. And then we were able to win the next two. Yeah, absolutely.

And you mentioned Kobe, and we all know the Mamba mentality and everything. And we hear about it. We read about it. But, I mean, you got to live it and see, you know, how dedicated he was to the game, that competitive fire he had. Could you just describe what it was like seeing it day in and day out? That was a privilege. It was a privilege to be able to witness it and share it. you know, those moments with, with such a unique and exceptional individual that transcended

so many things. So, yeah, it was, he said the tone, you know, he elevated everybody because whether you race to, you know, to that level or to your best level, or you just wouldn't fit, you know, so it was, it was kind of like that type of, situation. He was very motivating. He was very stimulating. He elevated, I think, everybody around him, just by setting the example, by really letting the work do the talk and just that killer mindset of going out there and just wanted to kick your butt. It didn't matter who you were and trusting his work, you know, and I think at the end of the day, that's kind of what he relied on a lot. But mentally, he was just a different type of beast where, you know, he was not settling for being one of the best.

He wanted to be the best, period. But he understood as well as he progressed in his career that he couldn't do it alone. Right. So he had to elevate the teammates around him, and he needed his teammates around him, and he needed to rely on them as well. So, you know, I was so glad and, you know, so lucky to have had that opportunity, partnering with him and the rest of our guys and create a partnership, a true partnership, and to build a relationship that I was, you know, fortunate to transcend it also the basketball court, which doesn't really happen a lot of times with teammates, right?

Do you connect, you work together, you develop a chemistry, but that's usually where it ends. But now there's appreciation or a connection beyond that at a human level, which for athletes is hard to do. I feel at the highest level when we're so competitive, you know, the ego is there for all of us, right? And part of our performance is based on that ego and that confidence. So it's a fine line and a fine balance to find. At the same time, you know, it's beautiful when you acknowledge each other as human beings, as people, and having other things besides what we do on the court. Yeah, you guys weren't only great teammates.

As you said, you became very close friends as well. So I'm curious, is there a Kobe's story or memory that stands out to you when you think of him? I think, you know, there's many memories. that we were able to share. I think, you know, for us it was hard to, as we were kind of nourishing our relationship and friendship, it was hard for us to potentially like to calm down or let our guard down while we were teammates.

Once we, you know, I decided to move on and say and sign for the Bulls, we were able to come down. were able to kind of like relax a lot more and connect at a deeper level. So go to more dinners, go to more lunches, you know, and talk about different stuff that basketball. Because when you're in it and you're in a position to win and you acknowledge you have that unique window, you know, to be actually, to actually win championships, you have to be, you know, fully in it and with a certain edge that you need to maintain.

So it's hard to tell, hey, how is your day going or how is, you know, how's a fam or how is, you know, so-and-so doing. And I have just like casual, you know, conversations like, no, no, it's, it's go time, right? It's go time and that's all you fight. That's, you breathe, eat, and everything, that's it, you know. That's the, and that, you know, that's just what it, what it takes. So for us to, you know, also when we got to play in an. nationally, obviously you guys probably seen the documentary on Netflix, the Redeemed team, and how, you know, a lot of people was like, oh, how do you feel him running through your chest

and all that? And, you know, he was, he was very, again, very intentional and determined, you know, more than anybody that I got to meet. So he, you know, when we came to the village, just like, hey, pal, where are you? He came to our apartment building, you know, which, you know, in the village, usually all buildings are separated by countries and all of these buildings of whatever country. There's all the buildings here. So he went into that and then he's like, hey, Kobe, Kobe's looking for you. He came to to find you and spend some time with you or your building at your apartment. I was like, oh, shit, okay. All right. So I've always felt like he was kind of like softened me, softened me up and buttered me up. So, but on the court, he was like telling his teammates,

I'm just going to go through his fucking chest and get in. And I'm going to, and I'm going to going to send a message and this is what I'm here to do and this is the mindset that we all need to have is we're going through people we're not getting out of these Olympics without our gold medal and us that was the mindset you know unique mindset because obviously my team we wanted to win you know and we gave we gave everything we had in order to be able to do that and but I you know how he set the tone and the message that he sent to his team and as far as the confidence in the approach, you know, that's a strong, you know, a strong message. And, you know, it was, I think it paid off for them the way they won in 2008, 2012.

Obviously, they won others after without him and stuff. And the U.S. is always the fours and the favorite team. But, you know, I love those stories. I love how he, how intentional he was, how his approach, how he tried to share that with the younger guys. I also love that he was able to transform his role. He was not the top scoring guy on the team,

but he shifted his role into the defense. He was like one of the best defenders on those teams. And then he was more of a mentor, you know, an emotional leader of those teams. Instead of like, hey, I'm just going to score 25, 30 points. And I said, no, I'm going to lock this guy up. I'm going to go do this.

So he was super just intentional and so intelligent when it comes to his approach. Absolutely. Man, that's fascinating stuff there. I want to switch gears here a little bit because I know you love the game of golf. And I was actually looking at your handicap. You're carrying a 9.9 right now, very respectable. And you've played like seven times in the last 19 days. So you're getting some swings in out there.

Do you remember what age you first fell in love with the game? I was 39. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I mean, I guess it's a seven-footer. You're not really going out there looking to tee it up very often. No, no. I mean, it's funny because I had no interest in golf before I was 39.

Like, I acknowledge that it was a sport that drew some attention. But I had been in places, you know, with golf. golf courses, hotels and stuff. And the only thing that I would do, it would be go running, you know, on grass, not really acknowledging their holes or anything. Remember, one of my sponsors at the time was a tourism sponsors. Like, oh, you play golf. I'm like, well, we would like to swing the club a couple times for the commercial.

It's like, oh, I'll try. Just let me know what to do. So it's just until I was 39, it was, I think it happened to a lot of people during the confinement of COVID. Golf was one of the very few things that you could do outside that was allowed, and golf courses were still kind of, you know, I guess with restricted access, but you can go and be out and be out and do that. So after three months of being confined and people, say, hey, come, or a family member, my brother-in-law is going to play pretty much every day.

So, come on, Powell, let's try, let's try it. I'm like, I'm not, I'm good, I'm good. I don't, I don't really like golf. But then by the third month of everything shutting down, it's like, all right, let's just give it a shot, you know. So then the competitive juices kind of kick in. It's like, oh my God, I struggled deeply. Obviously, my sport is very upper body dominant too and very controlling and forceful in a way in a way that your arms and hands are very and very right right-handed dominant so so I was trying to you know control everything no no really string structure no nothing no fundamentals as far as golf goes just like oh that ball that little ball is sitting there far away from my from my head so anyway just struggled struggled and it's like okay I got to

figure this out. It can't not be this hard. I've seen my brother in low was playing. It's like, he's hitting the ball decently well. I'm like, I have to be able to do that at least. So that's when I took a couple lessons. It made a difference. Like I started giving me things, started feeling things on the course, just being out and challenging myself and, you know, golf courses for the most, I mean, they're beautiful. It's connected with nature. I was kind of rehabbing from an injury. so mental and emotionally also helped me. And then I just got hooked big time. Awesome.

Yeah, to get to a single digit in like a handful of years, that's pretty good. And that takes some commitment for sure. I've been told scouting report on your game, pal, very good, like low handicap around the greens, on the greens. And then Tita Green could use a little work. Would you agree with that assessment? Yes, I would. That's rare for a big man to have like be great around the green. Normally it's kind of the opposite.

Yeah, but I've always, I think I guess I always had good, obviously hand-eye coordination, good hands, good touch, good feel. I think when it comes down to the shorter shots and the field shots and the putting, it's all about focus, about rhythm, routine, and confidence. So, so you, you know, you visualize things and you just feel them. So I don't know. I feel like there's less moving parts, which for a seven foot one guy, it's a challenge when it comes to the longer clubs. So that's, I think that's why. And then I'm a competitor, so I like to scramble and I get myself out of, you know, tricky situations or, you know, I love getting up and down. And you kind of get used to that even though I would like to get used to just hitting greens and regulation and putting for bird anymore.

But, and I'm working towards that. But yeah, that's kind of inconsistent, like I said, with the long clubs and trying to build a better swing so I can be more consistent there. And I can use my leverage and my levers to create more distance as well. So hopefully that's kind of what I'm. But I should spend more time doing lessons and weren't doing drills and spend less time playing, which is what I enjoy a lot. And when you get to a certain handicap, you kind of get comfortable with that

because there's a cushion there that you have. So the competitive side is kind of a double-ed score where you enjoy to win matches, but I would enjoy to win them with a lower handicapper or with a lower handicap without having to get any strokes. I mean, ultimately that's what any competitive guy or golfers, you know, what should won, I guess, but I won at least.

Absolutely. Well, I mean, playing with your buddies is one thing. But then you tee it up at the AT&T Pebble Beach Proa out on the PGA tour, which one of the bigger events on the PGA tour schedule. One, how nervous were you? And what was it like for you playing in front of actual people in some of the best players in the world? Yeah, I love it. I mean, I got to play three years in the AT&T. So pretty much my second year playing golf, I played the AT&T, right?

to me, two things. I love playing in front of people. I'm used to playing in front of people. So actually playing in front of people brings the best out of me. Or, you know, it makes me focus. It gives me the adrenaline. It gives me the interaction, the engagement,

sometimes with the fans. That's kind of what I'm more used to, you know? So I love it. It didn't, you know, it didn't create a negative effect on me. But some people would tighten up. get nervous or like, oh, I don't want to hit a bad shot, or I don't want to hit anybody or I'm not. That doesn't register.

That doesn't go in my head, in my brain. I'm like, I'm going to lock up. I'm going to hit a great shot. I'm just going to put it. And I'm going to, you know, whatever it is, you know, whatever shot I'm going to, I'm hitting. So, so that's, there's that. And then it's, you do get nervous, which I like,

because I do want to, I like doing things that make, nervous because I think making you nervous makes you feel alive makes whatever whenever you're nervous like for what I tell them a lot of people it's like okay this this matters to you so you should actually do more things that that make you feel that way because it makes you know it means that you care about what what you're doing but then it's like again the early early tea times you it's it's draining it's you know you feel it you go to sleep and you think about those shots you wake up, you wake up in the middle of night, and you think about some of the shots or some of the things

or the first year or the next day, and it's like, hey, I'm going to hit a good one and remind me to have these swing thoughts and the stuff that you've been working on, so you try to put it all together. So, you know, when I was playing basketball, I didn't, at the highest level and the biggest games, I did not wake up or did not get the same rest

that I'm not able to get when I play some of these tournaments. So it's kind of cool, you know, to me, I enjoy it. Even though, again, you play those tournaments. And even in the older format where you play three days instead of two, you know, you end up, you know, pretty worn, pretty worn out. Absolutely. I'm like, I need some rest. Yeah, you just recently played another big one, too, the Celebrity Rider Cup out there, Bethpage, before the matches started. I believe your partner was Catherine Zeta Jones, if I'm not mistaken.

Good job on that. How was that experience, though, out there? That would be a blast. It was great. It was fun. Man, it was fun. I wish we played 18 holes instead of, I think we played 11. The format was, you know, it was fun.

So pretty much they made the teams and no handicaps were taken into account. So I partnered with Catherine, and it was great because I was told it was going to be partner with somebody else. But then they partnered me with Catherine. So it ended up being great because, you know, OSCE's best ball all the time was a scramble the whole time. And she was a great player and her, we took pretty much we took her drive the entire round. And I'm so glad because they had it sometimes seen off of the Bacte's where the players, the pros, would play from, which it was ridiculous. But yeah, I had a great time.

Michael Stram was on the opposing team. So he was a great player, great guy to kind of hang out with. And we lost 6'5, 6 points to 5. But, yeah, it was a unique experience to be able to play in the Ryder Cup course two days before the Ryder Cup. I mean, it was fantastic. So, yeah, the interaction with the fans. I was surprised how many fans were actually there Wednesday.

That was really cool. And I got up and down and putted really well that day, as you said, lower handicapped on the short game. And so people were like, you know, saw me and congratulating me. And I was like, oh, you played really well Wednesday. I'm like, I don't know. You play that well. But anyway, I got some highlights. All you try to do is just have some fine, create some highlights, compete.

And that's what we did. Yeah, that's the only thing the European team lost all week. Yeah. The celebrities set the tone. and then we went downhill from there. Did you stick around at all and watch the actual Rider Cup? I did, yeah, I did. I went Saturday and Sunday.

So I was there Saturday for the second part, the second session. I mostly followed my Spanish guy, John. So I did that on Friday and Saturday were very lopsided days and kind of unprecedented kind of results. for a Ryder Cup where the European team just, European team just, you know, did extremely well.

But then Sunday was, you know, was very, was very exciting. Maybe a little too exciting for my taste and for the Europeans to a certain point. And I was following John's match against Xander

in, you know, that ended in 15th. Then I was able to stick around on the 15s, and then I saw a couple of matches go through, and I was able to see and follow Shane's match, which at the time he was down two or three on 15 with Henley. And he ended up, you know, birding 15, birding 16, par 17, birding 18, and getting that final half point that gave the European team the win. So, and I was able to spend some time with Shane this summer, out of there, Monor. And, you know, so we coincidentally were there at the same time with our families.

And to be able to see him come through that way and that moment was pretty special. So, so, yeah, overall, it's just a fantastic, you know, week of golf. The excitement was unreal. and I'm excited to help continue to grow the game, continue to grow the Rider Cup. I'm talking to the owner of the Rider Cup host course in 2013. There's going to be in Spain, El Camarral, a course that I play quite a bit in the summer. And, yeah, so I'm just excited to continue to help grow the game. It's giving me so much.

And I hope that it continues to give a lot to. to kids, children, and communities. Absolutely. We appreciate you for it. Before we let you get out of it, real quick, you want to go through the E9 real quick? Yeah, we got nine kind of just goofy, off-the-topic questions for you, pal. All right. We'll ask you this one to start out with. A movie made about your life.

There's not going to be many guys we can pick for this role. But who's going to play Powell Gassau? Oh, wow. Man, that's a good question. Who's going to play? No, no, not going to play. Man, you know, I mean, not that I, I would love to play myself. I love acting.

I've done some acting in the past. I've done some cameos. I would definitely volunteer. You know, if I shave and dye my hair a little bit, I would definitely volunteer to do that. I couldn't think of anybody, you know, better than that to do, you know. But what other tall actors? are out there that could actually not many

there ain't money I saw them all on showtime Liam Nelson Hugh Graham not Hugh Grant the guy from the Wolverine Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman yeah you know those you know Hugh Jackman

some some people you know have some resemblance to it to him yeah throw him on stilts yeah he's gonna have it's a camera angles right You're going to have to hit the gym to look, you know what I mean? Whatever little Wolverine workout he's got, I ain't going to be cutting it right here. All right, pal, first one from me. I got a little help from your sponsor over the golf course you play up in San Francisco at the Cal Club.

But he wants to know, did nobody tell you it's bad for him to show up as the first time as a member and win the first tournament that you enter? Yeah, they did tell me. They did tell me. But, you know, it just happened. It just happened. You know, I got paired with a random member. I was alone. He was alone.

We got paired the day before the tournament. And I had never met him before. And we played together. And we won. I had a great front nine. And he had a great back nine. And we won the tournament. So, yeah.

There you go. And my name and his name are on the wall forever. Yeah. Tough shit. Play better. Yeah. You tee it up. You're there to win.

Play better. I don't care. It's my first or my 50th. I'm here to win. One for one. So might as well try to win this one. Exactly. All right.

My next one, obviously, you mentioned a little bit earlier, your medical background. You're a very smart guy. And in 2010, sporting news actually ranked you the 15th smartest athlete. Ooh, nice. Okay. We actually, our guest coming up this week was ranked number 20th on that same list. Do you know who was ranked number one? I don't either.

His name's Craig Barclow. He was a baseball player. Smart guy. But fun fact, I think you have an argument here. Peyton Manning was number 14. You got to be smarter than Peyton. Paton's pretty smart. I got to meet Peyton.

He's a bright guy. I love what he's doing, what he's done. Yeah, those guys are those. Eli and Payton are pretty special. They are hilarious. By the way, there was four NBA players on the list of 20. Okay. Shane Batier, Grant Hill, yourself.

I can't remember the last one. A couple Duke guys. But he was below you. Duke guys. Shane Baddy and Grand Hill. It feels like a very subjective list. I'm being honest. Yeah.

Who makes that list? Yeah, I have no, no clue. To be able to judge anybody's intelligence. I think we were 21 and 22, though. Yeah, we had to be right there. Others receiving votes. They only did top 20. Others receiving votes.

Okay, pal, your brother, Mark, obviously, great player. You grew up together. I'm sure there was some altercations. as young children, what was the last physical altercation between you and your brother and what was the outcome? Yeah, Mark, I mean, I've learned not to mess with Mark too much. There was a point in time where, you know, even though we were four and a half years apart, where his just body was different in mind, even though we're both tall, it's pretty my same height. But he was just thicker, thicker, stronger built.

than I was. And you don't want to mess with Mark. So he has that mean streaking him too, where you just don't want to take him to that place. So, yeah, it was a point where, you know, we were like shoving each other and stuff, and he just, you know, shoved me and I just fell in my back. And I'm like, oh, this is not how he was supposed to go.

So, yeah, we had a, I think, very good childhood. You know, when I always try to push, we were very competitive with each other. I always try to push him and make sure that he knew that I was the oldest brother. But I gave Mark a lot of credit, you know, because he not only made a name for himself and he at some point stopped being Pau Gasol's little brother, but he, you know, he made some tough choices along the way. He bet on himself.

He believed in what he could do. And he became not just a great basketball player and what I think will be a very soon, hopefully Hall of Fame, also a player, but just a great human being, you know, that I love seeing how great of a father he is and how great of a leader he is and everything he does. What we do together for our foundation, helping children, you know, having better access to health and grow up healthier in communities and

childhood obesity prevention. So, you know, I just love my brother, loved them from day one. I love him to death. That's great. Go ahead. All right. My next one here, you mentioned obviously playing in Memphis. They're very proud of their barbecue around there.

But you spend some time in San Antonio. Texans also think they probably have the better barbecue. Settle the debate. Debate, Memphis or Texas barbecue? Wow. He's going to ruffle some feathers. Settle the debate. I don't know if I'm the one to settle this debate.

Which do you prefer? What I prefer, yeah, what I would prefer. I think, you know, I don't know if I can say they're different. You know, I don't know if you guys, you spend much time in Memphis. I go there pretty much every year. Occasionally. Occasionally, okay. It's so hot.

Yeah, for the FedEx tournament. Yeah, it's so hot there. Good God. I mean, I just said that scheduling. Oh, it's terrible. I mean, it's tough. I mean, you see all those players just, just sweating there. Yeah.

Yeah, you got it. Yeah. Yeah, so I, you know, so there's, have you ever been to the place Rondeau? Oh, yeah. They're on the range every like Tuesday, rendezvous on the range. There you go. Oh, wonderful. Yeah.

So, you know, Rondevo, it's a great place. They have a lot of history. I think the South overall, but Memphis in this case, I think, has a, I don't know if it has a deeper history when you talk about barbecuing than Texas does. Even though I had a great, great Texas barbecue place that we would in San Antonio, near to where we, it's actually, it would say the worst barbecue plays in the world or something. It was called Rudy's. Oh, you know, Rudy's.

Love Rudy's. Yeah, great, great place. Great, great, great place. Great barbecue. So, I don't know. I love both. I think if I had to gravitate towards one, maybe it feels to me that originally Memphis has more of an identity and pride with their barbecue. There you have it.

Bam. Settled. Settled. Settled. Debate is done. Done. No more debate. Consider this close.

All right, I'm going to give you another one involving food slash drink. Give me the reaction of the Cal Club membership when you first joined and you showed up to the bar and ordered an apparel spritz. Which I don't even know what that is, by the way. Oh, come on. That's a summer, summer refreshing, I guess, drink, you know, I think for stretch of time during that time, it was kind of like that, kind of maybe like go to sometimes after round type of drink. and the guy, one of the bartenders at a cow club was like, basically

he said, go back to Sharon Heights. We don't have none of that stuff here. You don't even know what to make, how to make that or anything. So I was like, I got it. That's what you see all the ladies sipping on in the south of France over on the yachts. That's why I don't know what it is.

I don't have, there's been a minute since I've been there. It's an cultured man. Italy, France, South of France. friends, all that. It's kind of a good refreshing, summery type of drink. Yeah. A high-brow drink.

Yeah. Nice little cool down after a round of golf. Classy order. After a real hot round. Yeah, it's always so hot up at Cal Club. All right. The last one for me.

Obviously, you mentioned playing for the Lakers, the biggest market in the NBA. It's always special to see who's on Celebrity Row each single game. Okay. Was there anyone you were star-struck by when you were run down the court? You're like, damn, that's so-and-so. Yeah. You know, it's interesting because most of the time I wouldn't really register who was on the core site, which is a good sign, you know, of how focus you are. But other times, you know, it's hard not to win. Okay, there they are or who they are, you know.

I mean, Jack Nicholson, I think, was someone that I just love seeing. Not that I was, I'm not a person to be starstruck, you know. So, so yeah, I was just, you know, I don't know, you could say a lot of different names that came along and, and they were there regularly and so. But I'm just, you know, I love what people do and I respect what people do, but I'm just, I'm not, I don't think I've starstruck. I've just don't, that's just not how I register, how I, feel about things or people. Again, I have a lot of respect, but I just don't, you know, I treat you as a person as I would like to get treated, you know. I can appreciate people that admire your talent or my talent. But hey, you know, it's all good. We're all here and we're

sharing this moment, whatever it is. And I like connecting and valuing people for who they are or who we are, you know, beyond what we do. All just, we're all just people. Classy answer. Put our pants on. From a classy dude. One leg at a time. His pants legs are just a lot longer in mind.

It takes a little while. Yeah, just takes a lot longer. All right, pal, last one for me. This one comes from your good friend, John Rom. Text him and said, hey, submit a question for your boy. He said, have him tell you the story about when he showed back up to training camp in L.A. After the 2008 Olympics of what Kobe Bryant had waiting for him in his locker.

Yeah, actually, I was texting with John. yesterday and you know I love what John what John is doing and how he thinks about things when it comes to you know his career, his life and so forth

so so you know what I what happened is right after it was right after the Olympics yeah in 2008 we go to training camp obviously Kobe puts his medal

his gold medal in my life locker. So I go for you, a training cam, and I see the Olympic gold medal of Beijing in my locker. So I'm like, so I look and he's waiting. He's on his chair. He's on his locker waiting for me to see it. And like, so I get it. I pick it out.

It was like, all right. You know, what do you want me to do? Congratulations. You won. Great. There's your gold medal. Okay. It's like, okay.

So he wanted, again, he was very intentional. He says, so look, you. lost, we lost against the Celtics in June. You've lost against us in Beijing and the Olympics. Let's not make this season a third loss in a row for you. Okay. So obviously I was, I was already, I came in, I mean, we, you know, we carried that pain of losing in 2008 against the Celtics into the season and I was ready to do whatever it took. But it's just, good to get those messages from, again, your leader to stimulate you even more. Because you think you have enough.

But for people around you that are going to battle with you to send you those messages, I think they go a long way. And Kobe, again, was very intentional. He was doing his part. I know you know, but let me remind you of that even more and push you a little further. So from this day through the entire season, we're on the same page because we got to get back out. And we got to get back to that final moment again, to the finals and change the outcome. And that takes, what it takes is that approach from first day of training camp.

Every single day, every single practice, every single game matters. And it's a step towards that or away from that. So you have to remind yourself of the importance and relevance of your daily actions. And that was what we talked about earlier, about the edge that you have to keep in those type of seasons or moments and times. So yeah, that's kind of the approach. And there's a second story with Kobe kind of after the Olympics of 2012 where also obviously different time, different age,

but same mindset from him where usually after the Olympics and we go into a training camp, you have two weeks, two, three weeks. And I just needed to recharge because I didn't get much of a break after the season and stuff. So I needed to recharge. So I stopped training, I stopped this. and Kobe, they gave us the first day, I think, oh, maybe it might have been to the 2008, maybe it might have been in the 2008, not the 2012. First day of training camp, we get a day off because we just played the Olympics.

And Kobe challenges me also to a one-on-one. I said, Powell, let's play a one-on-one. It was like, well, we're supposed to have a day off. You know, they gave us a day off for a reason. They said, no, no, let's play a one-on-one while the team was practicing. And he challenged me to a one-on-one. It's like, we'll play it on the post where you're really good at, you know. So you have the advantage.

But I hadn't been, you know, still practicing to that level. So because I wanted to not ease my way into it, but, you know, I had to be mindful how much I was pushing myself to be able to have my best stuff at the end of the year. But he was always on. So he had really not taken off. So he was like shard. He was like shape. he was like and he was sending another message it's like this is what it takes damn that's awesome you know so and he he he beat me he he beat me on the 101 in the post um he was he was just

it's just a different animal you know when he came to his approach um his dedication well pal's a cool story yeah that's really cool man it's been awesome catching up with you hearing your story seeing how much you love golf and everything you're doing for golf man we really appreciate and Thank you so much for sitting down with us. No, my pleasure. Let's hope I get to see you guys soon and maybe play some golf and have some foul there. Absolutely. You got it.

Thank you, pal. All right, that was Paul Gassau, joining us on subpar. What a great dude, man. What a story. I mean, by the way, his like medical background and all that. And then going into the NBA, 18 years. Really cool. And I love the Kobe stories.

I could listen to those all day. Yeah, it's like talking to people that are actually close to him, actually played with him, shared a locker room, all that stuff. those are different stories. Those are different stories too. But yeah, him getting into the game of golf got pretty good quickly. Yeah. Like his short game, all that said, like we talked about putting, very, very good.

Long game needs to figure out a way to get a little more pop off the team. It goes in the Cal Club, wins his first event. Bad form. Bad form. And then order a spritz. But you can't find a nicer guy. His specs on his clubs are a little different than mine. Yeah, I was actually going to get into that with him.

He's got the jumbo, jumbo. was like Bryson does with multiple wraps. If you ever play with a basketball player, it's fun to look at their grips, because even the ones that aren't enormous and POW is, like they're like baseball bat, tennis racket grips.

Yeah, but he's a great dude, man. Really appreciate him coming on with us. And also, with the holidays coming up, it's the perfect time to upgrade your golf gear.

I just made some birdage juice teas and they turned out perfect. Great for gifting or keeping for yourself. Head to shop.golf.com and design your custom look today. All right, congrats to your Broncos. There's my hundred.

Thank God we won the member guest so I can afford. to pay you. We brought home some cash, but a lot of fun up there in Vegas. Once again, shout out Southern Highlands. Ben Lamb had a blast, and I will talk to you on next week's subpar.