Pau Gasol was recently asked about a return to the Lakers who may have an easy decision to make soon
I imagine you have heard someone tell you at some point in your existence that life wasn’t easy. You know the speech, right? Things won’t always go easy for you. You have to work hard for what you want. In short, life, and the decisions that make up a big part of that life, are often times not fair and rarely come easy.
Not that we needed a reminder of that, but the last few months have been a solid reminder of that rule.
Life isn’t fair and sometimes the right decision isn’t easy to ascertain. Then, there are those times when things seem to align. When all the right doors open, the writing is on the wall and the right decision you have to make is so obvious that it hurts!
Sometimes, life is kinda fair.
Pau Gasol recently talked with Ryan Ward of ClutchSports. The interview was supposed to be about the 10 year anniversary of the thrilling 2010 Lakers victory over some team from the Eastern Conference. In the course of that conversation however the question came up about a return to the Lakers and if Gasol had ever considered it.
“Seriously considered? It’s not that I’ve had many opportunities… It’s something that has been on my mind. Kind of like the potential of maybe finishing or playing my last year with the Lakers would be great. It’s appealing if you will, but the opportunity never really kind of presented itself in a serious official manner. I have a great relationship and love for Jeanie and the Lakers organization and the city of Los Angeles, which is always going to remain extremely meaningful to me no matter what, but we’ll see. But not really.”
The last few years have not been kinda to Pau Gasol the player. He is obviously not the player he once was, but as any Lakers fan will tell you, he will always have a special place with the Purple and Gold. Not only because of his contributions to that aforementioned 2010 Championship against the New England Somebodies, but also because of his close relationship with one of the very best to ever do it for the Lakers, Kobe Bryant.
Speaking about that Championship he got emotional as he remembered his friend Kobe. “I got emotional too, especially towards the end and hearing Kobe speak when he got the MVP trophy and how he acknowledged me,” Gasol recalled. “With him being gone, I got really emotional. It just really meant a lot to me. It’s one of those things with time that you learn to appreciate things and value things more, what you have gone through, what you have achieved, people you have had in your life, people you have shared special things with.”
In 2010 Gasol was second in scoring at 18.6 pts. per game and assists at 3.7 assists per game. He led the Lakers in rebounds and blocked shots with 11.6 rebs per game and 2.6 blocks per game. Gasol was a force against the Boston BeanBabies and Los Angeles never forgot.
Even the talk of Gasol returning to the Lakers for what would be his 20th NBA season is exciting. AS mentioned earlier, he isn’t that player from 2010 anymore. In his last significant time in the 2018-19 season he averaged about 4 ppg, 4 rpg and 2 apg for San Antonio Spurs and Milwaukee Bucks in about 11 mins a game. Not great numbers, but the Lakers wouldn’t be signing him to be a force on the court as much as to be the force in Los Angeles he already is. Anything they get from Gasol on the court would be gravy and Gasol is no doubt too proud to return if he can’t contribute.
No, he isn’t the Pau Gasol of 10 years ago, but who cares. He is still Pau Gasol.
For the Lakers things have aligned, the right doors have opened, the writing is on the wall and the right decision is so obvious, it hurts! Sometimes, life is kinda fair after all and there would be no better proof than to see #16 on the court for the Lakers in the 2020-21 season.
