Five potential destinations for Pau Gasol
Once upon a time, Pau Gasol was traded to the Houston Rockets. Then the NBA stepped in and Chris Paul never ended up on the Lakers. The point being, the Rockets were never able to get that power forward that they wanted.
They thought that they once had Chris Bosh in free agency, but that didn’t work out either. The Rockets have been searching for, and continue to search for that player to slide in next to Dwight Howard, so that they can complete the three man triumvirate alongside James Harden.
If Pau Gasol is going to be available in free agency, the Rockets are going to make a play. They’ll also make a play for Kevin Durant and Al Horford as well, if history is any indication. While those top two guys are going to break the bank with the raised salary cap, the Rockets could still position themselves for Gasol nicely.
They are currently on the books for $82 million in 2016-2017. With the cap set to be at $89 million, that leaves the Rockets with about $7 million of open space. However, this is Daryl Morey’s team. He will make the moves necessary to cut salary, even if that means attaching future assets with it.
If they could shed a Ty Lawson, Corey Brewer or Trevor Ariza, they would be in prime position to make a run at Gasol. They also have all that cap space in the world for the giant salary speak in 2017-2018. If the Rockets really want to throw many at him, they can find a way to do it.
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