Lakers Rumors: Marc Gasol 'Not a Lock' to Return to Los Angeles

With the Lakers trading away Montrezl Harrell and Andrew Drummond leaving as an unrestricted free agent, the team has Dwight Howard and Marc Gasol in place to guard the paint for this upcoming season. 

It could be assumed that Gasol would fit perfectly into this veteran heavy squad, but after last season where his skill sets were marginalized by the presence of Andre Drummond, it looks like the Lakers are not set with the idea of having the 36 year old former Defensive Player of the year return to the purple and gold. 

"I’m hearing that Marc Gasol is not a lock to return to the Lakers, even after Gasol said following Spain’s quarterfinal loss to the United States in the Olympics that he intends to play out the final year of the two-year deal he signed with Los Angeles," writes Marc Stein at Substack. "It’s not yet clear if that means Gasol is poised to be set free to play elsewhere in the NBA or if he would ultimately opt to finish his career in his home country like brother Pau." - Marc Stein, SubStack

Stein, who was a former NBA insider for ESPN, has recently moved onto a subscription based platform, but is still very much keeping tabs on what's going on around the league. 

It seems the Lakers and Gasol will have a very deep conversation about his future and the if both parties decide to part ways, how will the Lakers pivot to come out better for it.