Kings Making Push For Pau Gasol

1:14pm: The Kings are really high on Snell, Jones tweets.

THURSDAY, 9:07am: Skepticism is emanating from the Bulls side about a deal getting done on this front, Amick hears (Twitter link).

WEDNESDAY, 10:40pm: The Kings are “aggressively pursuing” Bulls center Pau Gasol, tweets Chris Mannix of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Sacramento is offering center Kosta Koufos, shooting guard Ben McLemore and “sweetener” in return.

Chicago would also send swingman Tony Snell to the Kings and would receive a relaxation of the lottery protections on the first-round pick that Sacramento owes the Bulls this summer, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. The pick is currently top-10 protected, but that provision could be lowered to give Chicago a better chance of having it this year.

Wojnarowski also reports that the Kings called the Sixers today because Philadelphia has the option to swap first-rounders with Sacramento this summer. Sacramento can’t make a trade with the Bulls without an agreement with the Sixers. Philadelphia plans to seek some type of unidentified compensation for going along with the deal.

However, if the Kings and Bulls agree to change the protection on the pick, the trade automatically has to become a three-team deal with the Sixers, tweets Jake Fischer of Liberty Ballers. Fischer confirmed with the league office that a change in protection to an owned draft pick cannot legally affect another obligation (Twitter link). All teams affected by the pick in question must accept the changes as part of a trade (Twitter link).

Gasol makes nearly $7.45MM this year and has a player option for next season at nearly $7.77MM. He said in December that he is “very likely” to opt out of his current contract, and there were conflicting reports today on how badly the Bulls want to trade him before Thursday’s deadline.

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