Marc Gasol is 35 years old. On January 29, with the season just starting, if current forecasts are met on a calendar that still has no certainty, it will turn 36. He has been in the NBA since 2008 and has achieved it all: champion with the Raptors in 2019, three times all star, All NBA (first team in 2015, second in 2013) and Defender of the Year in 2013. In the Florida bubble he closed his contract with the Raptors and became a free agent. Since then, rumors have surrounded him, some of them returning to Spain to play for Barcelona, an option that for now has not even been on the table.
The logical thing, unless mediate your will or that of your family to return, is that you rush your NBA stage and sign a last? good contract (he has already earned $ 155 million in his years with Grizzlies and Raptors). At this point in your career, It is easy to see the Spanish pivot choosing a destination that mixes a good quality of life and the option of competing to be champion again. Of course, it is not ruled out that he continues in a Raptors in which Serge Ibaka is also a free agent. It seems unlikely that the two are still in Canada, but the logical thing is that the franchise tries to retain at least one. If the chosen one is not Marc, he has already been linked, as mentioned before, to the ideal destination for a veteran of his characteristics, with franchises such as Lakers and Warriors. Zach Lowe (ESPN), one of the most reputable voices in the NBA environment) has ensured that he sees the Spanish in the San Francisco Bay.
The Warriors will recover Klay Thompson, who missed all of last season due to injury, and will have Draymond Green (43 games this past season) and Stephen Curry (five) again. Fresh after a year off (nor were they in the bubble) that followed the very tough five-year period in which they played five Finals in a row, Many see San Francisco as a gigantic threat to the new champion, neighboring LA Lakers. Of course, it is also part of the fact that one of the reinforcements that Steve Kerr’s have to do is in the center position, and even more counting on the tremendous physical power that the Lakers have exhibited on the way to the champion title in 2020.
The Warriors cannot offer big contracts but they can offer an optimal sports option and the gigantic market (and quality of life) of San Francisco. Ibaka (he is 31 years old) seems an optimal option but very difficult because it is believed that he escapes the economic accounts of those in the Bay. However, Bill Simmons (The Ringer) he does see the Spaniard of Congolese origin in the Bay: “He has already won a lot of money, he has been in good sports situations, he has already been champion, he is a great teammate in the dressing room … the typical player I can imagine forgiving money to be part of a project like the Warriors’.
Zach Lowe, however, sees the option of Spanish as more possible: “I think the one who can go from Toronto to San Francisco forgiving money and with an important role in a team that wants to be champion is Marc Gasolas long as it’s still in the United States. Ibaka… I think he’s going to sign for a year and 20 million with the Raptors ”. After winning the ring with the Raptors and the World Cup with Spain, Marc did not have a good season last season, marked by physical problems and a drop in his level of play. In the playoffs he averaged 6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists. But in the NBA it is believed that his defensive ability and intelligence can still earn him a position of relevance in a team of maximum aspiration. The ball, an unrestricted free agent, is now in his court.
