The Lakers could make sense as a potential suitor for Marc Gasol this summer, opines Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News. Gasol once belonged to the team, but he was sent to the Grizzlies seven years ago as part of the deal that brought his brother Pau to L.A. “He needs to play as good as he can and take his team as far as he can,” Pau Gasol said about his brother. “Then he can think about his future afterwards. He can put everything aside and then he can evaluate everything on if he wants to stay in Memphis. That seems like a pretty reasonable option. Or he can give it a shot to another place. We’ll see. But who knows. That’s later. Right now, it’s a distraction.”
Let’s have a look at more on Gasol and the latest out of L.A.:
- Ed Davis, who was Gasol’s teammate on the Grizzlies before joining the Lakers, doesn’t think it’s likely Gasol leaves Memphis to join L.A. next season, as Medina notes in the same piece. While Davis doesn’t completely rule out a change in scenery for his former teammate, he thinks it would take “something unexpected” for Gasol to leave what he has established in Memphis.
- A free agent who may be on the way out of L.A. is Jeremy Lin, who expressed frustration over his season on his website. “This season has gone in the opposite direction that I anticipated,” Lin wrote. “I went through one of the worst, if not the worst, slump I’ve had in my basketball life, as well as having some of my poorest performances ever as a basketball player. Also at times, it has felt like the barriers were insurmountable or that I was powerless to control things around me.”
- Coach Byron Scott told Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com that his plan to limit Kobe Bryant‘s playing time has been successful. “So far, the experiment is working,” Scott said. “We’re just going to keep at it and see how it turns out.” Bryant, who sat out three games last week, has been averaging 32 minutes of court time since his return, about five minutes less than before.
- The Lakers expect to welcome Ryan Kelly back to action tonight, Medina reports. Injuries to both of Kelly’s hamstrings have limited him to just three games this season. “I never want to be seen as somebody who gets hurt a lot,” Kelly said. “But I’m excited for the future.” Last summer, the Lakers gave Kelly a two-year deal worth about $3.4MM.
Charlie Adams contributed to this post.