After signing center DeAndre Jordan, the Los Angeles Lakers decided to move on from veteran Marc Gasol. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Gasol is headed via trade to the Memphis Grizzlies, who plan to waive the 36-year-old Spaniard.
The trade will see the Lakers sending Gasol, a second-rounder in 2024, and cash to the Grizzlies, while receiving the draft rights to Fujian Sturgeons’ Wang Zhelin in return.
Gasol, who went through virtually the same trade at the start of his NBA career before becoming a legend in Memphis, won’t suit up for the franchise. Instead, Wojnarowski reports that the Grizzlies will release the player to “allow him to remain in Spain with his family.”
By getting rid of Gasol and his $2.7 million contract, the Lakers will save themselves $10 million combined in salary and luxury tax.
Marc Gasol was the Lakers’ second-round pick in 2007. He didn’t get a chance to start his NBA career in Los Angeles, as the franchise traded him in 2008 as part of the trade that landed them Gasol’s older brother Pau.
Gasol went on to spend 11 years in Memphis, earning three All-Star nods in a Grizzlies jersey and winning the NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2013. Grizzlies traded him in early 2019 to the Toronto Raptors, where he won his first and only NBA title in the same season.
Gasol signed a two-year deal as a free agent with the Lakers ahead of the 2020-21 NBA season. In 52 games in LA, he averaged 5.0 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game.
