NBA Rumors: Miami Heat interested in signing Pau Gasol?

While nobody wanted to give the Los Angeles Lakers anything for Pau Gasol during the February trade deadline, there certainly are no shortage of suitors lining up for his services in free agency. We’ve already heard that the Dallas Mavericks, New York Knicks and Gasol’s former Lakers are interested in the veteran big man, but there may be a new team added to the mix.

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According to ESPN’s Chris Broussard, the Miami Heat may have interest in signing Pau Gasol, this of course assuming that the Heat are able to retain LeBron James and Dwayne Wade in free agency.

The belief here is that the Knicks and Lakers are expected to give Gasol a ‘discounted’ offer, something that Broussard feels the Heat would be able to compete with despite filling up their salary cap with James, Wade and possibly another player.

But where does that leave Chris Bosh? Well, despite his preference for playing at power forward, it’s possible Gasol could play center alongside Bosh which isn’t exactly an intimidating defensive force but it does clear out the lane for both Wade and James on offense.

Of course, if Pau Gasol was to join the Heat he’d likely need to take a significantly reduced deal (possibly as low as the mid-level exception) though for a chance to play for an NBA championship, it might be worth the dip in pay.

At this point it still seems rather unlikely, though I wouldn’t exactly put such a move beyond Pat Riley, especially given Gasol’s other options.