Whether it’s former Warriors players themselves or legends like Jerry West, NBA guys like to stick around the Golden State Warriors. From Dorell Wright, Festus Ezeli and Chris Mullin on the NBC Sports Bay Area broadcast team, Leandro Barbosa and Zaza Pachulia in development and front office roles, to even Steve Kerr as the head coach, the Dubs have a lot of ex-NBA players who associate with the franchise.

It’s hard not to. The culture in the Bay is about winning championships and playing at a high level of basketball. That’s been the story since Steph Curry broke out as an all-star, and it was propelled to new heights by the franchise reaching 5 consecutive NBA Finals, taking home hardware in 3 of them. While a lot of ex-players now in roles around the team are guys who have won championships or spent a lot of time in Golden State, there are plenty of others who are making their way.

One of those guys is Pau Gasol. A 2-time champ and 4-time All-NBA’er, Gasol is a Los Angeles Lakers legend and was a dear friend of the late, great Kobe Bryant. He’s also one of the most respected former players around the league, garnering several all-star selections and high praise from his peers. Pau’s a classy guy, and he’s someone any organization would be lucky to work with.

While the details are currently vague, it looks like the Warriors may be that lucky organization:

What Gasol says here is, as stated, vague. It does, however, sound like he’s going to be slowly ramping up his role with the team (whatever that may currently be) over time. As the Warriors organization continues to bring in younger players through the draft, and with the seeming intention to keep that build-up going, a veteran presence who knows how to win from an organizational standpoint is certainly a beneficiary.

This new role also has interesting implications specifically for James Wiseman. Gasol was one of the NBA’s last great traditional centers, a player archetype you rarely see nowadays. If he does any works with Wiseman down the stretch, it could mean a ton for him expanding his game. Especially as a dominant big who played alongside a great perimeter scorer like Kobe Bryant, Pau certainly has a lot of wisdom to impart on Big Jim in a perimeter-oriented modern NBA.

Look to see more of Gasol around the Warriors, and likely some elaboration later on about his role with the organization. While there likely won’t be much news during the playoffs, the offseason could provide some interesting developments, especially dependent on the success of a Warriors title run.

(Photo credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez)