Pau Gasol’s future with the Los Angeles Lakers looking bleak – NBA Feature
Pau Gasol is at the centre of all talks related to the Los Angeles Lakers, and it is almost certain that he will not be in a Laker uniform next season.
It is a sad and tragic end to a great run Gasol had with the Lakers, winning two championships along with Kobe Bryant. The Lakers lost game 5 to the Oklahoma City Thunder which sent them crashing out of the playoffs with a 4-1
win for the Thunder. It is not that the Lakers lost to the Thunder. OKC is one of the best teams in the NBA this season, finishing 2nd in the Western Conference. Their playoff performance has been even better, managing clutch situations like they
are veterans to the game.
But it is in fact the way that the Lakers lost to the Thunder, without putting up a fight. Nobody would have imagined at the start of the playoffs that the Lakers would be pushed to 7 games by the Denver Nuggets, and then lose
to the Thunder in 5 games.
Pau Gasol had a miserable performance in the game 5 loss to the Thunder. He shot 5 of 14 from the field and grabbed only 2 offensive rebounds. Moreover, he gave away a turnover on a bad pass with 33 seconds left in the game and
the scores tied. However, Gasol is not the only one to blame for the loss. Kobe scored 42 points but was 18 of 33 from the field and playing almost a one man game in the final quarter. Andrew Bynum had 10 points and only 4 rebounds in the game. The bench contributed
only 5 points to the overall tally.
After the dismal performance put up by the Lakers in game 5 and in the playoffs in general, one thing has been exposed quite clearly. The Lakers roster is not working well together. Anyone who has followed the playoffs will know
this. Kobe has been constantly putting the blame on Gasol and Bynum in press conferences while refusing to take any blame on himself.
But, it is also clear that both Kobe and Bynum are not going to leave Los Angeles. Kobe is the face of the Laker franchise and has been a Laker since well, forever. The Lakers team management will not want to lose Bynum. At 24,
he is a promising young talent who can be worked upon and made even better. Besides, Bynum had a good season. That leaves Gasol as the most probable candidate to be leaving the team.
Gasol averaged 17.4 points per game this season, a career low. He averaged 13.1 points in the playoffs last year, and managed only 12.5 points per game in this year’s playoffs. At the age of 32, he is not the same talent he once
was and any team wanting to take him would certainly not be looking at a very long contract with him.
Jim Buss was trying to trade Gasol last year and there were talks of getting Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo or Kyle Lowry in return. As much criticism as he took for his planned move, he was right to try for a trade when one thinks of
it in hindsight. After this season’s performance, Gasol’s value is sure to have gone down. And he has two years remaining in his contract worth $38 million. That is a hefty amount for any team looking to get him onto their side.
There is a great deal of uncertainty surrounding the future of Gasol and the Lakers franchise in general. Time will tell what moves the team management makes in getting them balanced and playoff ready. They have done it on numerous
occasions in the past and are very capable of assembling a championship calibre roster.
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