The fall of Shane Battier, LeBron James’ Heat squire: From intellectual to “asshole”
In 2001, Pau Gasol landed in the NBA with the Grizzlies after they agreed to a trade with the Atlanta Hawks, who had chosen the Spaniard with the No.3 pick in the draft, in exchange for Shareef Abdur-Rahim. And in his first days in Memphis there was a teammate who went out of his way to help him, to the point of going to meet him at his hotel to welcome him and act as a guide minutes after the Catalan landed in the city. It was Shane Battier, the other rookie whom the Grizzlies had chosen with the No.6 pick in that draft.They struck up a great friendship and played five seasons together in Memphis, until Battier was traded from the Grizzlies (01-06), to the Rockets (06-11), then had a brief return to Memphis (2011), and played his final […]
