Pau Gasol spent the last six and a half seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, won two championships but also spent the past couple of seasons being the center of trade talks and the scapegoat when things went wrong. Now Gasol will be an unrestricted free agent, able to go wherever he pleases but he might end up right back with the Lakers.
via ESPN Los Angeles:
Has Pau Gasol already played his last game for the Los Angeles Lakers? Not if the Lakers’ brass has their way, he hasn’t.
Although the Lakers’ ideal free agency scenario involves convincing both LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony to come play for them this summer, according to a source with knowledge of the team’s thinking, they are not ruling out the return of the four-time All-Star and two-time NBA champion Gasol by any means. …
“It’s going to depend,” Kupchak said. “Pau and I spoke a lot during the season, a lot during the postseason. And we let him become a free agent. And I know it’s something that he’s looking forward to. He loves Los Angeles and he’d love to stay here. He’d love to continue to win, but it is a pretty active marketplace. Or it will be. And he’s going to have some options that are probably pretty good. We’re going to have to sort through our challenges and there are scenarios where Pau would be back and we’d pursue him. And there are scenarios that he wouldn’t be back or that he chooses to go someplace else.”
The Knicks are also reportedly interested but they can only offer Gasol $4 million. He’s expected to get larger offers from other teams.
