LOS ANGELES -- Not many players leave the court with their team down by 23 points in the final game of a disheartening playoff sweep to a standing ovation.

But then again, not many players have done what Pau Gasol has for the Los Angeles Lakers in the five years since arriving here.

When it was over for Gasol -- after Kobe Bryant had squeezed his shoulders in appreciation once Gasol was on the bench, after another unnecessary timeout was called and the Lakers' benchwarmers-turned-starters huddled near center court -- he sat alone at the end of the bench with his head down and clapped his hands together.

Was that his "this is it" moment? His admission to himself that life as a Laker was fun while it lasted, but with a $19.3 million expiring contract and knowing full well his team still has the amnesty clause available to them, that he'd just donned the purple and gold for the last time?

"It was more like frustration, disappointment to finish off this way," Gasol told ESPNLosAngeles.com after making his way through the bowels of Staples Center, stopping along the way to say goodbye to arena employees -- maybe for the summer, maybe for much longer than that.

"I know the circumstances were totally against us, but still it hurts," he said. "It hurts me to lose like this. It hurts to lose back-to-back games at home like that, regardless of the scenario, conditions, adversity.

"It was just hard for me as a Laker, and as a competitor and as a winner, to not be able to do more or be more successful."