The Lakers’ signing of Andre Drummond after the trade deadline soured the franchise’s relationship with Marc Gasol, according to Bill Oram of The Athletic (Twitter link). Gasol lost his starting job and that created a rift that could not be resolved, Oram adds. Gasol was traded to the Grizzlies on Friday, though he’ll be waived and will remain in Spain with his family.
Kyle Goon of the Orange County Register runs with the same theme, noting that Gasol called his season with the Lakers “chaotic.” The Lakers signaled this week that Gasol wouldn’t return when they signed DeAndre Jordan.
We have more from the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers are sending their own 2024 pick with no protections in the Gasol deal with the Grizzlies, Bobby Marks of ESPN confirms (via Twitter). The Grizzlies are also receiving $250K in the deal, Marks adds.
- There will be plenty of pressure on Klay Thompson and James Wiseman to produce for the Warriors during the upcoming season, Kendra Andrews of NBC Sports Bay Area notes. It’s unlikely that the Warriors’ floor-spacing will improve until Thompson’s return, and they need Wiseman to develop into a frontcourt force in order to become a contender again.
- Suns wing Cameron Johnson has changed representation, hiring agents Ty Sullivan, Steve Heumann, Melvin Booker and Simone Capers of CAA Basketball, Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports tweets. Johnson, who is entering his third season in the league, averaged 8.2 PPG in 21 game during Phoenix’s postseason run to the Finals. Johnson, a 2019 lottery pick, is extension-eligible next offseason. Melvin Booker is Devin Booker‘s father.
Good on Gasol to get out, to avoid being one of three.
One of four really. Neither Dwight Howard nor DeAndre Jordan are going to get big minutes, so AD will still be getting plenty of minutes at center.
I don’t believe that AD will play alot of minutes at the 5. It will mostly be DeAndre and Dwight at the 5 mark my word.
Go Lakers
Lakers Fan For Life
It will mostly be those two at center, but at the end of each half it has to be Davis. So that means he will get at least 10 minutes or so.
That’s the regular season. In the postseason it’s much, much higher.
You want to run only Dwight and Jordan at the 5? Recipe for disaster. I agree with Wallyworld here.
Davis will end up getting some minutes at the 5 but having these guys should limit that and help keep him fresh
Good on the Lakers for getting rid of those concrete feet.
Yes but they signed a guy with lead shoes to replace him.
DeAndre Jordan is done. He’s no longer the high-flying act he was with the Clippers.
Wiseman and Thompson is like picking up 2 free agents since they didn’t play last year unless you count Wisemans half time.
Exactly. If you look at it like this-that the Warriors upgraded everyone who left with guys that better fit their system:
Porter>Oubre
Bjelicia>Paschall
Iguodala>Wanamaker
Klay>Bazemore
Moody+Kuminga>Mannion+Smailagic/Bell
Even having Damion Lee back healthy is big. They finished last regular season with a Top 10 lineup but an 8man rotation-
Steph/Baze/Wigs/Dray/Loon
Poole/JTA/Mulder.
Now, they’ve got
Steph/Wigs/Porter/Dray/Loon
Iggy/Poole/JTA/Bjelicia/Wiseman
Lee/Moody/Kuminga, one of Mulder/GP2, and eventually Klay.
Having Mulder as their 12th guy instead of 8th man is much better. Their starting lineup being top 10 showed they really only needed depth for the minutes where Steph Curry isn’t on the floor. Bradley Beal can’t play 48 a night.
There’s a possibility we get a LouWil/Trez duo out of Poole/Wiseman if they get enough time on the 2nd unit together.
Damion Lee isn’t a star but he’s underrated for sure. He’s a 38% 3pt shooter as a Warrior and 44% from the corners. They could do fine with a SG platoon of Wigs/Lee/Poole/Moody/Mulder if that’s how it shakes out. It’s a reasonable expectation that Moody could be Damion Lee-esque on offense but offer plus defense, whereas Lee is pretty average on that end.
Jordan Bell played in one game I believe and had 1pt/5reb. Bell is 6’8/216. Kuminga is 6’8/230+. I think if they just have Kuminga basically play the role Jordan Bell had as a rookie he’d be fine.
Play defense, run the floor hard, attack the rim.
Wiseman has to be at least better than he was last year, and I think he needed last year to give him something to work on.
Wiggins could stand to have an even better year, as 2021/22’s off-season/camp hasn’t had nearly as many restrictions as 2020/21’s did, which was his first offseason on the team.
Porter doesn’t need to put up Oubre’s 15/6 to be effective, he just needs to stretch out the defense and play smart.
If he scores 8+ppg he’d be a big help.
Now I’d be on board with trading Wiseman for like, Saddiq Bey but outside of that or any trade that brings us back a 2-way wing under 27, it’s not really worth it. If we lose wigs in the Simmons deal, the 3rd team that gets our prospects/picks will need to give us a Robert Covington type anyways. A Steph/Klay/RoCo/Ben/Dray lineup is really good but Ben/Dray/Looney can’t spend a single second on the floor together.
I almost wish we signed Patrick Patterson as Otto Porter insurance but other than that and a backup PG, they’re looking a lot better than last year.
I’d almost prefer to try to make something out of Frank Ntilikina over Gary Payton II but I’m not the GM. I just think a Ntilikina/Poole/Moody/Kuminga/Wiseman unit is a nice building block toward the future of supporting members to the aging core of Steph/Klay/Dray. Ntilikina isn’t a freak athlete but he’s a really good defender and shows signs of a high IQ guy. He limits turnovers and plays hard, smart defense. If he shot 33% from 3 he’d be perfect for us.
If there was a Oubre/Lonzo trade on the table last year, we missed out for sure. Oubre was a 2/5 from 3, 4/8 from 2 guy whereas Lonzo was a 3/8 from 3, 2/4 from 2 guy. On the nights Lonzo wasn’t scoring, he’d still have 5+ assists. Oubre averaged 1 assist a game. Lonzo was the perfect fit for the future of the Iggy role in GSW’s offense and it still drives me crazy how good of a fit he’d be. A secondary ball handler, solid defender, now a solid shooter too. Lonzo is a better fit than Simmons tbh… Wiggins would just have to improve in order for us to get Lonzo now though and I doubt he can get good enough for GSW to pry a solid 23yo ball handling 2-way wing from anyone. That’s it, all done, thanks for reading of you got this far, have an awesome day, go Dubs!
Good read, good post. Keep them coming.
AD has said it plenty of times. He doesn’t play center. Even when they go small ball. He will only post on smaller guys. Does not like the physicality of post play with bigs.
AD is from the softside of Chicago.
Gasol should sign with Warriors. His gm fits them better. Can give them good mins when they need him. And he can help mentor Wiseman. Be a good way to get back at Lakers. Plus if they meet in playoffs. It would be high ratings.
Gasol was terrible last season. Not only did he regularly catch the ball right under the basket without the ability to dunk, but he couldn’t even make a layup.
Gasol still has good years DEfensively.
No, he was practically nonexistent on defense last season. Guys blew right by him constantly. It seems like you guys didn’t watch him at all last season.
In 52 gms — 19.1 mins, .410% 3PT,
4.1 reb, 2.1 ast, 5 Pts.
That’s for a team he tried to fit in with. He didn’t play after Drummond came in. Cause Lakers were desperate to win, so try anything. I’m not saying he’s the answer. But he can give solid productive mins. To a team who uses him better. And fits their offense better. Plus mentor a young center. Some of us see the glass half full in life. Gasol still can play a big role at 16-20 mins a gm. He’s not afraid of big lights.
“Anthony Davis doesn’t want to play center, and his fingerprints are already all over this Lakers roster as a result”
link to silverscreenandroll.com
“Report: Anthony Davis told Russell Westbrook he’d play center more to make trade work”
link to silverscreenandroll.com
Lakers will try anything is a good sign. I know these three want to win. Lakers have depth. But there is not enough on team to win a ring. Only way I see this. Is if all three have MVP type yrs. Even then it will be tough. Brons last run and Westbrook’s best chance for one.
If Jordan/Howard split the minutes at C then whose minutes are they taking? Ariza? THT? Ellington? THT is the wild card if he makes a big leap this year then Davis will play more C if not the two old men will get the C minutes.
Gasol should go back to Toronto and become a situational big.