The video played on the big screen — a collection of moments from a remarkable career — and then the PA guy said, “Give it up for Marc Gasol!”

But the city couldn’t.

Give it up.

Memphians couldn’t stand and make FedExForum rock one more time.

They couldn’t hoist their phones and take video of the moment to save in the cloud forever.

They couldn’t feel that particular burst of emotion — a blend of connection, wistfulness and gratitude — that is there only when a beloved sports figure returns to play in his former city for the first time.

Just 74 friends and family members were allowed to be in attendance for Sunday’s game between the Memphis Grizzlies and the Los Angeles Lakers. Those 74 fans may have done their level best to make noise.

But, well, I’ll let the man of the hour explain the problem. 

Lakers pull away from Grizzlies in Gasol’s return

“We’re missing a huge part of all this, which is the fans and the people of Memphis,” Gasol said.

Spoken like the true Memphian he is.

The final score of the game was Lakers 108, Grizzlies 94, and that was surely no surprise. The Grizzlies were missing Ja Morant, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Justise Winslow. The Lakers were not missing LeBron James.

James seemed only loosely interested in the proceedings for the first three quarters. Then he perked up, scored 13 points in the fourth quarter — the last three on a particularly cold-blooded 3-pointer — and that was that.

So never mind the game itself. This night was billed everywhere as the return of Gasol.

The Grizzlies traded him to the Toronto Raptors in February 2019. The Raptors had already played their one game in Memphis that year.

So Gasol’s first game back at FedExForum was supposed to be last season. But the pandemic put an end to that.

He signed with the Lakers as a free agent during the offseason. Which is why Sunday’s game became his “return.”

But it wasn’t a return in any real sense. For someone like Gasol in particular, a “return” doesn’t mean a return to a building, or to a basketball floor. A return means a return to a community, to all the people who watched Gasol arrive as a chunky kid and grow into a star.

The Grizzlies were wearing their throwback uniforms Sunday, the teal uniforms they wore that first season in Memphis.

Gasol was here for that first season. He sat in the stands. He saw how difficult it was for the franchise to find its place in this city.  

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“I got here in 2001 when the franchise actually moved here,” he said. “This is the 20th year. So the franchise means a lot to me, it’s a part of who I am. The city, the fans, the hospitals — St. Jude but also Le Bonheur — it’s a part of who I am and who I stand for as a man, and the values I try to keep.”

Note how Gasol went out of his way to mention Le Bonheur, as well as St. Jude. That’s a Memphian. He isn’t just rattling off the name of the world-famous children’s cancer center. He knows that Le Bonheur is important to this community, too. He spent hours with kids from both St. Jude and Le Bonheur over the years.

So when Gasol thought about coming back to play in Memphis, he thought about coming back to see those kids. And to see Bongo Lady. And hear the Grind House sound like the Grind House — that glorious, raucous din that he helped orchestrate.

“You always had it in the back in your mind, ‘When am I going to play Memphis again?’ ” he said. “But in your mind, also, the stands are full. The people are what made this journey here in Memphis unique and special to me. When you play for a team that is so close to a community — you obviously become one of them, and you have the same identity.”

Sure, Gasol was technically back in Memphis. But he was never one of those players who was just in this city. He was of this city, in a way no other player has ever been.

First, the city shaped him. Then he and his teammates shaped the city. Indeed, when Gasol fell hard to the floor and cut himself Sunday, I half expected his blood to be three shades of blue.

So, no, this wasn’t a return for Gasol. It was another thing the pandemic took away. A small thing, compared with so many other things. But it was another moment lost.

“I don’t think it’s the right time for it now,” he said. “It’s good but it will be better later on.”

Yes, later on.

Gasol could say that, because there will always be a later on for Gasol and this city. The two are forever entwined. And if the Lakers’ two-game trip to Memphis didn’t deliver the emotional moment people wanted, that's really OK.

The guy’s a Memphian. He’ll be back.