Vanessa Bryant’s birthday message to Pau Gasol says it all: ‘We love you’

Los Angeles Lakers legend and two-time NBA champion Pau Gasol turned 46 years old on July 6.

While Gasol will always be beloved among Lakers fans because of what he accomplished on the basketball court, he has also earned endless respect for stepping up as a father figure in Natalia Bryant’s life in the wake of the late Kobe Bryant’s tragic passing in 2020.

Plus, Pau has maintained a great friendship with Vanessa Bryant, as the Gasol and the Bryant families have formed an extremely close bond after enduring this tragedy to their shared loved one.

Vanessa Bryant has made her appreciation for Gasol very clear over the years, and she shouted him out with a birthday post to her Instagram on July 7, which showed her, Natalia, Pau, and Pau’s wife, Cat, playing what appears to be the card game called Spoons.

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The Instagram video shows the group of four laughing and joking about an apparent mishap that Pau had during the game. The post was captioned, “🥄 🥄🥄😊😂Happy birthday @paugasol !!!!!! 🎉 We love you uncle Pau! #hermano #family”.

This caption says it all, showing that Vanessa and Natalia have a ton of appreciation for “uncle Pau” and wanted to show him that on his birthday.

Pau and Cat Gasol have three kids of their own, all of which were born after Kobe and his other daughter’s Gianna’s passing in January of 2020. Their oldest daughter, Elisabet Gianna (named after Gianna Bryant) was born later in 2020, their son Max was born in 2022, and their third child, a daughter named Olivia, was born in January of 2026.

This is surely not the last birthday celebration the Gasol and Bryant families will share together.