Gasol yet to make Lakers debut; Wizards' Butler returns vs. L.A.
WASHINGTON -- Pau Gasol sat out the Los Angeles Lakers 103-91 win over the Washington Wizards on Sunday, not quite ready to play for his new team because of a sore back, a whirlwind 48 hours and an unfamiliarity with the triangle offense.
Gasol
"We want him to practice first. He traveled back and forth across the country, up all night, short hours of sleep. This isn't a fair situation for him," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said before Sunday's game.
"We'll practice tomorrow and see how he feels," Jackson said. "Play with the guys before we have him going into an NBA game with the 'Showtime' thing."
Caron Butler returned to the Washington Wizards' lineup Sunday against the Lakers after missing three games with a strained left hip flexor.
Butler made only five of 15 field-goal attempts and missed a free-throw attempt, ending his streak of consecutive makes from the line at 73.
"He looked good. He didn't play well, and that's to be expected after missing time off. But he didn't have his rhythm. He didn't have his mojo working, as we like to say sometimes," Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. "The good thing about it, he didn't aggravate anything."Butler entered Sunday averaging 21.9 points, 7.0 rebounds and 4.3 assists.
Gasol, the 2002 NBA Rookie of the Year and a 2006 All-Star, averaged 18.9 points and 8.8 rebounds for the Memphis Grizzlies this season, his seventh with the team.The Spaniard missed three of four games because of a bad back before Friday's trade. The Grizzlies got Kwame Brown, rookie Javaris Crittenton, two first-round draft picks, cash and the rights to Gasol's brother Marc. The Lakers also received Memphis' 2010 second-round draft pick.
"I didn't see it coming. I didn't know anything about it," Gasol said. "I'm trying to digest everything that's been going [on] with me the last two days, and get ready to rock and roll."
He wore jeans and a black zippered sweater for a brief news conference at the Wizards' arena -- the first three minutes were in Spanish, the next four in English -- then went to the visiting locker room to change.
Moments later, Gasol was out on the court for some shooting and low-post drills, wearing a purple T-shirt and purple shorts and standing a few feet from Lakers star Kobe Bryant.
Asked whether this deal will put an end to the talk about whether Bryant would be traded, Jackson replied: "It depends on how well it works. ... It will give us a more complete game, a more fluid game. Kobe sees that it will give us some opportunities to come back in games."
After scoring 30 points to lead the Lakers past the Wizards, Bryant was asked whether he'd like to see general manager Mitch Kupchak make another move before the trade deadline.
"I'm letting Mitch handle that stuff," Bryant said. "I gave up playing GM in the summer."Gasol went from a Memphis team that was 13-34 entering Sunday to a Los Angeles team that stands at 30-16 after Sunday's victory.
"The pressure of winning and being one of the favorites, I think, is what you want to be involved in," he said. "That's the kind of pressure I've been missing being in the NBA. I love that."
The Lakers hope he can help them overcome recent injuries to frontcourt players, including blossoming center Andrew Bynum.
"Pau gives us a strength in the post. If Andrew becomes healthy again this year, it will give us a double post. We'll have the biggest front line in the West. That could be a factor," Jackson said. "It's a great patch in the hole. It's a great way to shore up some of the things that were bothering us, that hurt us last year."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.

