4:57pm: The trade is official, according to a Grizzlies press release (Twitter link).
1:38pm: The Grizzlies remain active on the trade market, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who reports (via Twitter) that Memphis has agreed to acquire Marc Gasol, a 2024 second-round pick, and cash from the Lakers in exchange for the draft rights to 2016 second-rounder Wang Zhelin.
The swap will send Gasol back to the team with whom he earned three All-Star berths and a Defensive Player of the Year award, but the reunion will be short-lived. As Wojnarowski explains, the Grizzlies and Gasol have already agreed that he’ll be waived in order to allow him to remain in Spain with his family.
Gasol told reporters following Spain’s elimination from the Olympics last month that he intended to continue his NBA career and play out the last year of his contract with Los Angeles. However, there had been increasing chatter in recent weeks that suggested the veteran center had played his last game as a Laker. As Kyle Goon of the Southern California News Group tweets, the “writing was on the wall” for Gasol following L.A.’s signing of DeAndre Jordan on Thursday.
It’s unclear if Gasol is set to retire as a player or if he simply won’t seek a new team right away after being released by the Grizzlies. Either way, the move will open up a roster spot for the Lakers and save them some money, even after accounting for the cash they send to Memphis in the deal.
Taking into account Gasol’s $2.69MM salary and the accompanying luxury-tax penalty, Wojnarowski estimates that L.A. will recoup about $10MM. The Lakers will have 13 players on guaranteed contracts once the deal is finalized, leaving two spots open on the 15-man roster, though the club may only fill one of them for the start of the regular season.
Los Angeles also gets the rights to Wang, the 57th pick in the 2016 draft. However, it looks like he was just included to make the deal legal — he seems unlikely to sign an NBA contract anytime soon.
As for the Grizzlies, this will be their seventh trade of the summer, including the Juan Hernangomez deal with Boston that’s not yet official. Like many of Memphis’ other trades, this one won’t move the needle much, but allows the team to acquire a minor asset in the form of a 2024 second-rounder. That pick will be the Lakers’ own and is unprotected, per Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian (Twitter link).
Until that Hernangomez deal is done, the Grizzlies have an open spot on their 20-man offseason roster, so they’ll likely look to complete the acquisition of Gasol and then release him before finalizing their deal with Boston, in order to avoid having to cut anyone.
The Grizzlies can acquire Gasol without matching salaries because he was signed using the minimum salary exception last offseason and can be acquired using the same exception. The Lakers will create a small trade exception worth Gasol’s outgoing salary ($2.69MM).
Gasol was truly underrated and underappreciated his entire career. Hopefully his international accomplishments pinch his ticket into the H.O.F.
Nah. Good player definitely not hof material.
Perfect example of why I said underrated and underappreciated.
He’ll probably go in for his role in the international game like Yao Ming did. Between the two brothers, they have nine All-Star selections. That’s extremely rare considering neither played NCAA college basketball before the NBA.
R u joking?
Have you seen the basketball hall of fame and some of the people that get in?
Ben Wallace is inducted this weekend
Gasol was wayyyy better. Very underrated player. Hall of fame for sure. Should have number retired in Memphis.
You could argue off his NBA career alone probably not but combine it with his international career he’s a lock.
Why did Lakers pay cash to Grizzlies?
No one wants to take more salary?
Lakers are sending $250,000 to Griz
Extremely dumb by the Lakers, in my opinion, but I guess it somehow explains the need for adding so many centers, specifically DeAndre Jordan, when not necessary, and now it allows them to add the wing they need
Still, if this isnt it, there are so many teams that probably wish this happened earlier, but still a couple of teams that can probably make room. The Heat already messed up letting certain other pieces get away/sign for little elsewhere, but this would be a literal perfect fit, and they should take him, even though they were probably going to wait until after the 50 game mark to add that 15th roster spot for tax purposes.
Hopefully, he isnt retiring, as he is still one of the best defenders in the NBA.
If he still has legs to play a backup role I would really like to see him on the bulls backing up Vuc, bulls seemingly will role with a small lineup off the bench and I don’t know if I love that idea, but I also don’t watch the lakers so I’m not sure how much gasol has left in the tank
If he had anything substantial left in the tank, and was still one of the best defenders in the NBA, then there would be no reason for the Lakers to throw him on the trash heap.
This is the same team that thought Andre Drummond was good
And thinks Deandre Jordan will be any better… after NJ tossed him on the trash heap!
I definitely agree in the sense that, to me, Gasol is probably a better option than Jordan at this point. Although neither looked great last season.
Either way, w/ Russ on the roster the Lakers shouldn’t be stocking up on 5’s at all, IMO. Davis is going to have to up his minutes there if the new “Big 3” is going to have space to operate.
I had assumed Davis was finally playing the 5 and Lebron finally playing more at the 4, but a lot is pointing otherwise. I disagree Gasol was any sort of problem last year, and still say using Drummond over him was dumb, and also say that if they were going to keep another big, they should have kept Damian Jones over Drummond
Gasol faded down the stretch last year. I agree that Drummond was a dud for the Lakers and he just didn’t look like he fit with the squad. AD has stated that he doesn’t like playing the 5 and with his health questions it might be better to spare him from having to square up with the opposing 5 as much as possible. With DeAndre backing up Dwight we have a couple of capable big guys to clog up the lane and hopefully end up signing JJ Redick to provide another shooter.
Not happening with JJ. He’s made it clear that, besides his own recovery/rehab, he wants to stay near his family in Brooklyn. He’s narrowed it to the Nets and the Knicks but it’s not likely either has a spot for him now. He’s willing to join later in the season. He could sign a G-League deal with either the LI Nets or Westchester Knicks to get back into game shape, then sign ten-day and/or end-of-season contracts.
Gasol was having a hard time getting up and down the court….good decision to simply lay back and spend some of that money!
So LA has 2 open roster spots? The can sign Michael Cooper and James Worthy.
Hahaha this is good
You’re aiming too high. But Norm Nixon is still in great shape
Gasol in exchange for Jordan seems like a worse off trade for Lakers. Both were back up players on the team so it doesn’t move the needle at all.
They are clearly worse. At least Gasol would stretch the floor with his 3-point shooting, they lose that with Howard and Jordan on the court. Westbrick makes things even more clogged in the middle as one of the worst 3-point shooters in NBA history. And neither LeBron nor AD are particularly good from 3-point range themselves. So with such a poor half court offense they better hope the over-the-hill gang can somehow find a way to not collapse on the court from running so many fast breaks to make up for it.
The problem with Jordan is he is defense only center. So if they start AD at center and Howard back up. Jordan will just play scrub minutes and nothing else he is good for.
Cant believe the rockets actually gave up assets to get Westbrook in the first place.
Your old account was named after Westbrook now you call him Westbrick. Just pure Laker hate. No logical argument.
Just worry about your rockets not finishing 12th in the west..
Jordan’s numbers we double what Gasol provided last season.
lakers should make a full on push for james ennis…. shooting and being a above average defender is what the lakers need… he does shoot above 40 last year on 3s…. which the lakers sorely need
Gasol had a great career. He is a better player than Jordan . Maybe he can rest the first half of the season then rejoin a contender.
I would imagine this trade was more about what Gasol means to the franchise and less about the skills he brings to the table at this point in his career. Kudos to the Grizzlies for allowing him to retire in Memphis where he flourished.
Salary dump
If Love is bought out he’s #14 on the roster but his number is VERY large and someone would have to eat a pretty big amount for that to happen.
I would rather have the rights to Gasol in case he wanted to come back after the Allstar break than actually have DeAndre Jordan.
DeAndre and Dwight are bangers, Gasol is less athletic. I thought Gasol looked good at the beginning of the season but faded down the stretch last year. Hopefully the Lakers add another shooter to take the open roster spot. I said all season that the Lakers were missing Dwight. At times he was the 3rd best player they had in ‘20, particularly in the bubble. With him and DeAndre banging in the middle we might be able to recapture what was clearly working during that run.
What good are bangers going to do for the Lakers without any spacing?
With the worst 3-point shooter in NBA history at PG (not including Simmons who’s actually a PF) neither Jordan or Howard will have room to operate in the middle. Basically Ellington and Melo are the only ones who will really help stretch the offense, while everyone else will be bumping into one another in the paint. This team is absolutely desperate for shooters.
Everyone is acting like Gasol is some kind of lights out shooter from 3 point range. He’s good for a center but he isn’t shooting a ton of 3’s every game. Actually, the more he shoots the more he becomes a run of the mill 3 point shooter percentage wise. I’m sure the Lakers have another move on the horizon and I’m sure our offense will be potent wether or not we are shooting a bunch of 3’s every game. I know that you don’t have much else to do with your time other than bash teams that have kicked sand in the Rockets face for the last few years but to say that this team isn’t a solid team is just ridiculous.
Dont mind these peoole. These are lebron haters!
Gasol not only was a good 3 point shooter for a center but he also was a good passer . Both of these made him a good center to spread the floor better than Howard and jordan . Also he had a good post game but was not given opportunity in the Lakers .
If anyone watched him last season it was clear he has nothing left.
Could barely move, passed up shots, struggled defensively.
A nice career and good to hang it up now.
Gasol wasn’t worth keeping on the roster. Not only was he not helping the team on the floor, he’s a distraction by virtue of his stature. Too many questions about why he isn’t going to get any regular minutes.
Better to add someone on the vet minimum who provides more value to the team simply by virtue of fit. They MUST add a shooter. I would still love for them to find a way to nab buddy hield, but the money will never work. Lakers have no assets to move for him that they’d want to part ways with (THT). Some clever accounting and a third team might help. Who knows? I’d love that for them.
So Dwight is the starting center now?
As he should be. I don’t care what anyone says when Dwight was on the floor during the bubble he was a problem. He’s been working out like crazy and looks like he’s in the best shape of his career. I’m all in on Dwight this season.
Purely a money move
People often equate the Lakers to having a boatload of money which unfortunately just isn’t the case
I liked Gasol over DJ but for all we know Gasol told them months ago he was done in the Americas …Regardless; versatile 3/4 defender is of much more value to this team than a 3rd C …. Now they have a spot for that person whomever it may be …
I, like many others, am baffled Ennis is still unemployed …Hed be my #1 target
I honestly thought that Marc Gasol looked the best last year in the pre-season and that he immediately got worse once the season started. It didn’t take until the end of the year for me. Marc is slowing down. One of the main things they needed to improve was the center position. I’m happy to have Dwight back and willing to take my chances with DeAndre Jordon.
Go Lakers!
link to silverscreenandroll.com
Seems as though the Lakers were receiving an indication that Gasol was not interested in returning even though they though h could help. In essence they were forced to sign another Center.
Chinese Teacher: Wang, pay attention!
Wang: I was distracted by that giant flying–
Musician: Willie.
Willie Nelson: Yeah?
Musician: What’s that?
Willie Nelson: [squints] Well, that looks like a giant–
Colonel: Johnson?!
Johnson: Yes, sir?