Pau Gasol turns down Los Angeles Lakers’ offer, will likely be moving on
The Los Angeles Lakers have been very busy Friday.
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First the Lakers pulled out of the race for New York Knicks’ free agent forward Carmelo Anthony when they traded for Houston Rockets’ point guard Jeremy Lin to help the Rockets to clear cap space (which the Rockets may not even use before matching the Dallas Mavericks’ offer sheet for Chandler Parsons now that Chris Bosh has resigned with the Miami Heat). They agreed to a four-year, $23 million deal with free agent swingman Nick Young and a two-year, $18 million deal with big man Jordan Hill. They will also get to see their summer league squad play for the first time.
They also tried to retain free agent big man Pau Gasol. However, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports reports Gasol turned down a two-year deal worth over $10 million per season and will likely be moving on from the Lakers.
Pau Gasol turned down a two-year, $10M-plus per deal with the Lakers, league sources tell Yahoo Sports. Likely moving on.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 11, 2014
The Chicago Bulls, Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs all have showed great interest in acquiring Gasol. Darnell Mayberry of The Oklahoman believes this bodes well for the Thunder, but is worried about the Bulls.
I'd say that's excellent news for the Thunder. Suggests Gasol is indeed willing to take less to play for a contender. CHI is the wild card.
— Darnell Mayberry (@DarnellMayberry) July 11, 2014
Gasol averaged 17.4 points, 9.7 rebounds 3.4 assists and 1.5 blocks per game last season. He shot 48.0% from the field, 28.6% from beyond the arc and 73.6% from the free throw line.