Kobe: Gasol would've stayed with Lakers if management didn't disrespect him

Thursday night's contest between the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers marked the last time former teammates Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant would compete against each other.

After winning two championships together in 2009 and 2010, Gasol left Bryant and Co. in the summer of 2014, when he signed with the Bulls.

Bryant said Gasol never would've left Los Angeles, however, had the team shown more commitment toward the 7-foot Spaniard.

"He said, 'Kobe I want to play with you forever,'" Bryant told Mark Medina of the LA Daily News. "'But what management did to me was disrespectful.'"

Gasol has a different recollection of the conversation, though.

"Whatever we talked about, which was probably a year-and-a-half ago in free agency, stays there," Gasol said. "I did tell him that I wanted to play if I could with him forever. But I was ready to move on and put myself in a situation where I thought I was going to be a lot happier and play the way I've been playing."

If Gasol felt any animosity toward the Lakers, it wasn't without justification. Los Angeles nearly dealt him to the Houston Rockets in 2011 in a trade the NBA vetoed.

While he may have felt bitterness toward the Lakers two years ago, Gasol hasn't totally ruled out the possibility of re-signing with them come July 1.

"This summer is a different moment and different story," Gasol said. "I don't know. I don't think about the summer right now. I want to think about the season and playing as well as I can, and help this team as far as I possibly can."