Being deep into basketball dog years while nursing a bum foot isn’t a tall-enough obstacle for Pau Gasol. The 39-year-old free agent is not ready to call it a career. He still has the itch to compete, clash with the league’s big men, and grab another championship ring on his way out.
Given his age, it’s a must to choose the right destination. In Pau’s case, one who has spent his entire adult life in a foreign land, it’s probably not enough to have a title-contending roster. The team and city should also have the perfect combination of prestige and personal comfortability somewhere in it.
Gasol, a proud Spaniard who has become an honorary Californian thanks to his two championships in six fruitful seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, implied in a recent interview that he’s mainly drawn to two choices: going home to Barcelona or signing back with the Lakers.
“My intention is to play another season if the foot is OK, either in the NBA or in Europe … A final season with the Lakers is attractive, finishing at Barça is attractive, but you have to see the real possibilities and see what situation would be best for the circumstances of the moment.”
The last year or so has made Gasol a typical journeyman, thus the precise preference. Between March and July of 2019, he bounced from the San Antonio Spurs, to the Milwaukee Bucks, and unto the Portland Trail Blazers, who then waived him on November before being able to play a game due to a nagging foot injury.
Now before you deem the gentle giant to be too picky for an old, past-his-prime, and half-crippled player, Gasol did acknowledged his situation further.
“When I can start running and jumping I will have a lot more information to know for sure if the foot and the bone are consolidated for me to be playing professional basketball again.”
In the NBA route, reuniting with the Lakers is the one that makes the most sense for Gasol. It will be great to end his career where it truly blossomed, and adding a third championship with the Purple and Gold would tie him with Shaquille O’Neal, another all-time Laker big man.
The really huge question mark, however, is the franchise’s new regime. While it is very likely that he still has a solid business relationship with principal owner Jeanie Buss, he doesn’t have the same level of history with general manager Rob Pelinka, head coach Frank Vogel, or the team’s other influential voice, LeBron James.
Further, Gasol will also be competing with other key free agents, such as DeMarcus Cousins. In fact, the Lakers would need to clear a spot if they indeed want to sign someone, and that in itself is another hurdle.
