Pau Gasol Rumors: Atlanta Hawks offering $11M per year
By Josh Hill
With LeBron James ready to move on to the Cleveland Cavaliers and Carmelo Anthony likely to sign somewhere soon, attention is starting to turn towards the rest of the free agent field and the top tier players still available to sign.
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One of those players is Pau Gasol and the list of teams interested in him seems to grow every single day. From the early interest from the Chicago Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder to teams like the Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs and Gasol’s former team in the Los Angeles Lakers, the interest in the forward no doubt exists and he has the luxury of playing hard to get.
The Atlanta Hawks can be added to the list of interested teams and it appears they’re making an aggressive push to get him interested in them — although it’s unlikely to work.
Atlanta making aggressive, late pitch for Pau Gasol, league sources tell Yahoo. $11M-plus a year, sources say. Gasol likely passes on offer.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 12, 2014
The interest in Gasol is likely in response to Luol Deng looking more and more likely to bolt to the Miami Heat this summer to replace LeBron James but they could also just be making a play at Gasol to see if they can.
As Woj pointed out though, it’s unlikely to be an offer that gains much traction in Gasol’s camp as he’d probably prefer slightly less money for a better opportunity in Chicago, San Antonio or Oklahoma City.