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Kobe Bryant bumped into Pau Gasol last summer, a chance meeting of players who at the time could have swapped stories about being unhappy with their teams.

Now that they're together again, summertime could be much more pleasant this year.

Gasol's trade from the Grizzlies to Los Angeles fulfills his wish to play for a winning team and addresses Bryant's desire to upgrade the Lakers. It comes after Gasol had begun to doubt he'd get out of Memphis this season.

"I really didn't know. When it started off I thought I was going to be in Memphis," Gasol said. "Just didn't have a whole lot of hope that I was going to be able to, or that they were going to let me go like that."

Neither player had much hope last summer. The Lakers were coming off their second straight first-round loss in the playoffs, which Bryant followed by criticizing the front office and saying he wanted to be traded.

He reiterated that request to Lakers owner Jerry Buss during a vacation in Barcelona. While there, Bryant also crossed paths with Gasol, who was back home preparing to play for Spain in the European championships.

"On vacation I work out still," Bryant said. "I went and got my workout in and he was in the gym. We had a chance to chitchat a little bit."

While Bryant's stance seemed clear, Gasol's wasn't. Last season, when Memphis was headed to a 22-60 finish, it was publicly known he wanted out and was involved in a number of trade rumors before the deadline. Perhaps resigned to being stuck in Memphis throughout this year, he was much quieter, but management knew how he felt.

"Last year I was a little more vocal about it, I guess. Not so vocal with the media, but it got leaked out and it was all one big mess," Gasol said. "It was very uncomfortable — all the booing or a little bit of booing — but enough to make it very uncomfortable. I didn't really want to go through that.

"I told them one thing. 'Do you want to be in Memphis?' I said all I want to do is win. Winning makes me happy, so if we're not winning I'm unhappy. So if we're not winning that should answer all the other questions. So right now I have the opportunity to be on a great winning team and I'm going to try to make the best of it." ...

Gregg Popovich needed a point guard who could score. Damon Stoudamire wanted to play in meaningful games.

They may have found the perfect match to keep the San Antonio Spurs on track while they play without Tony Parker.