{"id":805506,"date":"2026-08-07T08:02:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:02:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/805506\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T08:02:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T08:02:09","slug":"pau-gasol-pinpoints-wembys-dominance-truly-decisive-is-in-the-paint","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/805506\/","title":{"rendered":"Pau Gasol pinpoints Wemby\u2019s dominance: \u201cTruly decisive is in the paint\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Johnny Askounis\/ info@eurohoops.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Pau Gasol shared his insights on the immense physical demands of operating as a two-way force in the NBA, drawing striking parallels between his own legendary career and that of San Antonio Spurs<\/a> star Victor Wembanyama.<\/p>\n

During an interview with Drafteados on Thursday<\/a>, the Spanish icon reflected on the young center\u2019s grueling workload following a spectacular Defensive Player of the Year campaign and an NBA Finals appearance.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a very high competitive drive, and he\u2019s still very young, so he\u2019s gradually channeling that energy that comes with youth,\u201d Gasol explained regarding the French prodigy\u2019s intensity.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is decisive when he\u2019s able to be near the basket on both offense and defense, using his wingspan to disrupt and dominate the game. As much as he can shoot from outside, where he\u2019s truly decisive is in the paint,\u201d noted the 46-year-old legend, emphasizing that Wemby\u2019s true dominance remains inside. \u201cHe needs to prepare himself physically to better absorb that pressure and have more stamina there.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Barcelona native also drew from his own storied past, specifically his 2008 transition to the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a>, where pairing with Kobe Bryant required a massive defensive shift.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than because of Kobe, I think that the year I arrived at the Lakers<\/a>, I was used to carrying a bigger offensive load. I think I knew, and I was asked directly or indirectly, that I had to take care of the best interior players on the opposing team,\u201d the two-time NBA champion recalled. \u201cDefensively, I took a step forward and was able to channel some of the energy I used on offense into defense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the latest News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Johnny Askounis\/ info@eurohoops.net Pau Gasol shared his insights on the immense physical demands of operating as a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":805507,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-805506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=805506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/805506\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/805507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=805506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=805506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=805506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}