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Pau Gasol likes opera, and Gregg Popovich loves his musicals

Kelly Dwyer
You don't know me, but I'm your brother. (Getty Images)
You don't know me, but I'm your brother. (Getty Images)

In 2014, Pau Gasol turned down similarly-sized free agent offers from championship contenders in San Antonio and Oklahoma City to move to chilly Chicago and play for what has turned out to be a combustible Chicago Bulls squad for a contract not that far removed from the league’s average salary. The unspoken partial influence behind the move credits Chicago’s vibrant cultural scene – one not limited to a series of “yes, and”-bits – as the overwhelming factor that encouraged the Spanish All-Star to take to the Greatest City in the World.

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Now, via Wall St. Journal, we have a bit more detail into what Pau is into. Not free jazz at the Hungry Brain, not a tourist-rich setting in front of the Blue Man Group followed by lasagna in a bread bowl, and not some skeevy kid’s set at Metro. Nah, it’s opera. Of course it is.

Gasol, who is friends with the legendary tenor Placido Domingo, has made the arts such an essential part of his life that they played into his decision to sign with the Bulls as a free agent last year, he said. Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf introduced Gasol to the right people at the Lyric, and it wasn’t long before he was a familiar face at operas, concerts and musicals across the city. “I’m a big supporter of arts and culture,” Gasol said. “I think they’re traditions that we need to continue to pass on to younger generations.”

Sitting through four-hour operas can be exhausting for anyone. But almost no one who goes to the opera is also 7-feet tall. So the Lyric and Chicago Symphony Orchestra go out of their way to make Gasol comfortable. He prefers sitting in a box, not because of any privacy concerns, but because Gasol doesn’t want to block anyone behind him.

“I’m always twisting to a side and sliding down in my seat so my head can be lower and they can see better,” Gasol said.

God bless Pau Gasol.

The Bulls center’s nighttime habits have encouraged 24-year teammate and fellow Spaniard Nikola Mirotic to also dive into Chicago’s opera scene, as the two are regulars at the Lyric for both opera and classical music performances. Gasol’s Instagram account provides documentation of as much:

 

No less culturally satisfying but certainly less, um, lengthy is ‘Hamilton,’ the wildly popular Broadway musical based around the life and accomplishments of America’s first Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton. We’re not sure who, exactly, brought week-old pictures of San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and MVP-candidate Kawhi Leonard’s appearance to the internet’s attention, but that doesn’t make their nonplussed mugs any less hilarious:

 

Coach Pop, Kawhi, and the rest of the Spurs …

… apparently took in the performance while in town to take on the far less-popular Brooklyn Nets on Jan. 11.

Pau Gasol, Gregg Popovich and Kawhi Leonard are three of the biggest reasons to be a basketball fan in the modern era, and we’re glad they’re taking advantage of the rare NBA night off to take in unexpected live entertainment.

Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’re about to pull up that Doobie Brothers concert on YouTube again.

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Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!