For the better part of the last three years, Pau Gasol has been in limbo, waiting for the ring on the other end of the line that would end his Lakers tenure. Now, on the precipice of hitting unrestricted free agency, it seems Gasol is comfortable with the fact that it's time to move on.
Gasol admitted as much Thursday when he spoke to reporters for his year-end press conference. It was a season defined for Gasol by the possibility of a departure—first via trade and then as a seeming reprieve this July. Gasol has spent the last six full seasons and parts of seven in Los Angeles, and as Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports reported, the finality of the situation filled the room with sentimentality:
This year is a little different. Every time I said [he felt sentimental] is because I didn't know if I was going to be traded. That has been kind of a theme for the last three years. But this year that possibility is out of the question. Now it's because I will be in charge of my future, my destiny and I have to listen to the different possibilities that I will have on the table.
The Spaniard, who won back-to-back championships in 2009 and 2010 with the Lakers, ended his season like the other stars on this roster—on the injury list. A bout with vertigo caused him to miss 12 of the Lakers' final 13 games.
It was just the final nail in perhaps the worst season in Lakers history. With Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Gasol missing time due to injury, Los Angeles set a franchise record with 55 losses. Only the lowly Sacramento Kings finished with a worse record among Western Conference teams.
Gasol, who missed 22 games total, was second on the team in points per game (17) and first in rebounds (9.7) and blocks (1.5). After a miserable first two months—featuring a good amount of back-and-forth bickering with coach Mike D'Antoni—Gasol rebounded by January to put up All-Star numbers. He averaged 19.5 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game on 51.1 percent shooting after Jan. 1.
Key to that offensive rejuvenation was a renewed commitment to banging in the paint. Gasol finished at nearly a 66 percent clip from the restricted area after the New Year and seemed generally motivated, despite the dilapidated state of the franchise. Although age has sapped most of Gasol's defensive effectiveness—he's still very heady but effort was clearly lacking at times—the 33-year-old shouldn't have trouble finding suitors on the open market.
Gasol made $19.8 million in the final year of his Lakers deal and will quite obviously be taking a step down in salary. Given his recent injury issues and inconsistency, he'll probably have to scrap to land a two-year deal at an eight-figure annual salary. Gasol turns 34 in July, so it's unlikely any team will want to stretch to his 37th or 38th birthday.
"I want to enjoy the moment and not be too stressed about it, even though at some point I'm going to have to make a decision," Gasol said. "It will be exciting. I look at this as an opportunity. For the first, and maybe only time, I will be a free agent where I can choose. It's exciting. It's nothing that I've experienced in the NBA."
Returning to the Lakers remains a possibility—albeit remote. Gasol and Bryant are known to share a close bond, but the Buss family is decidedly less likely to hand the big a sweetheart deal the way it did with Kobe. The Lakers want financial flexibility going into the next two summers, where they plan a free-agent spending splurge on free-agent classes that will include the likes of Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Love.
Phil Jackson's presence in New York will also engender discussion about a Knicks reunion. That would require an even more substantial pay cut from the one Gasol is already taking due to the Knicks' financial constraints. Gasol was noncommittal when asked about the possibility, saying he would "listen" as he would with the Lakers.
The Knicks have their own set of priorities to take care of following a lost season of their own. Anthony is a free agent and expected to draw a bidding war on an open market that includes the Lakers. Gasol would have to be a secondary concern.
Considering what he's gone through the last couple years, the team that lands Gasol might merely be the first to make him a top priority for once.
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