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LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Lakers have signed veteran Spanish center Marc Gasol.
The NBA champions confirmed the final step in their roster reconfiguration on Tuesday (Wednesday Manila time) by announcing the addition of 35-year-old Gasol, who spent the past one-and-a-half seasons with the Toronto Raptors and won a ring. championship. in 2019.
The Lakers traded starting center JaVale McGee to Cleveland to make room under the cap to sign Gasol, who is expected to provide his usual solid defense along with strong passing skills and 3-point shots.
Gasol battled injuries last season while scoring a career-low 7.5 points per game, along with 6.3 rebounds and 3.3 assists. The Lakers still beat out several interested suitors for Gasol, whose NBA career is closing the loop when he joins the team that drafted him in 2007.
Gasol will prepare for the Lakers nearly 13 years after the franchise acquired his older brother, Pau, by trading Marc’s pick rights over the Memphis Grizzlies in February 2008, while Marc was still playing professionally in Spain.
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Pau Gasol won two championships, participated in three NBA finals, and made three All-Star teams alongside Kobe Bryant during six successful seasons with the Lakers. Marc became a three-time All-Star and NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2013 for nearly 11 years with the Grizzlies, who traded him to Toronto in February 2019.
Pau Gasol, now 40, is a free agent after spending last season outside the NBA while recovering from foot surgery, but he has not retired. He lives in California with his wife and newborn daughter, and on Tuesday posted a video of himself on his Instagram account doing basketball drills.
Marc Gasol and fellow newcomer Montrezl Harrell will likely replace McGee and Dwight Howard as the greats of the Lakers rotation. Anthony Davis, who is still technically a free agent, also excels at center, but the Lakers prefer to keep him fresh for the postseason by using other big men to protect the low post.
Gasol’s skill set should fit in well with the Lakers, who in the last week have added four talented NBA veterans – Gasol, Harrell, Dennis Schröder and Wesley Matthews – to play alongside LeBron James, Davis and their remaining core. . Howard, McGee, Rajon Rondo, Danny Green, and Avery Bradley are gone.
Gasol is one of only six players in league history to record more than 6,000 rebounds, 1,100 blocks and 350 3-pointers in his career.
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