Marc Gasol will return to the same team that drafted him in 2007. The 35-year-old Spaniard and younger brother of Pau Gasol agreed to a two-year deal with the Lakers, further ramping up the purple and gold’s chances of winning back-to-back NBA titles.
For now, the Gasol brothers will be in the NBA record books to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. But if Los Angeles goes on to win it all again this 2020-21 season, the Gasol siblings would achieve a rare feat of seeing two brothers win an NBA title with the same franchise but in different eras.
Word of Marc Gasol signing with the Lakers was first bared by Zach Lowe according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. So far, there has been no mention of how much money was offered to the three-time NBA All-Star.
Gasol will sign a two-year deal, sources tell @ZachLowe_NBA and me. — Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 23, 2020
Los Angeles beat out several teams who were targeting the former NBA Defensive Player of the year. Aside from the Toronto Raptors, the Golden State Warriors were mentioned as interested in getting the 6-foot-11 center to the Bay Area.
Pau Gasol spent six seasons with the Lakers from 2008 to 2014. He was part of the Lakers team that won back-to-back titles in 2009 and 2010.
Marc Gasol, on the other hand, also has an NBA title tucked under his belt. This came in 2019 when he was part of the Toronto Raptors quintet that won the title that year.
Gasol thus becomes the fourth key player the Lakers have secured for the 2020-21 season. Before him, Dennis Schroder, Wes Matthews and Montrezl Harrell officially joined the purple on gold.
Gasol should perfectly fit that void left by Dwight Howard who opted to join the Philadelphia 76ers. The move also saw little need for JaVale McGee. McGee was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers along with a future second-round pick. The Cavs sent Jordan Bell and Alfonzo McKinnie as part of the deal. However, their pacts are non-guaranteed according to another report from Wojnarowski.
Gasol has been struggling the past years after getting hit by different injuries. His numbers have been declining but his defense and rebounding are what head coach Frank Vogel is more interested in.
Last season with the Raptors, Gasol played in 44 regular-season games, averaging 7.5 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists in 26.4 minutes of action. Those should be fairly decent numbers with Gasol expected to play support to LeBron James and Anthony Davis this coming season.
