Why watching Pau Gasol and the Lakers has become sad

As the majority of the basketball watching world focuses in on NBA playoff races, individual award races and just generally on teams and players that are still relevant at this juncture of the season, Pau Gasol has quietly gone about putting together an excellent second half for the playing for nothing Lakers.

Pau's numbers on the season are still good enough - 17.5 points, 10 rebounds, 1.5 blocks - but his numbers since the turn of the calendar to 2014 have been simply sensational, as the 33-year-old is averaging 20.6 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 blocks. For the record, those would be career-highs in points, rebounds and blocks, and his Player Impact Estimate (NBA.com's advanced measure of overall statistical contribution) of 15.5 percent in 2014 comes in just behind Anthony Davis (15.9%) and James Harden (15.6%) in the New Year.

Gasol's defense has certainly regressed over time and the Lakers have actually been worse with him on the court this season as opposed to on the bench, but he can still be a significant presence on offense and on the glass, and he would look like a more respectable defender with some more competence around him and in front of him than what this sorry Lakers team provides.

Gasol did it again last night, posting 29 (on 10/15 shooting), 12, four and one in another meaningless Lakers loss, this time to the Pelicans, and it really hit me then that it would have been great to see him get a chance to play for a contender or at least a team in the playoff race down the stretch. Something about this future Hall of Famer wasting away what might be one of his last stretches of great basketball on a team just playing out the string strikes me as sad.

Kobe Bryant and Steve Nash missing virtually the whole season is sad on another level, as at this point we'd all just like to see them play some more basketball before the end of the season, regardless of how their team fares. Derrick Rose missing the majority of another season with a separate knee injury is just cruel and sad in its own way, but we've known he was done for the year since November.

Carmelo Anthony is wasting perhaps the best season of his career on one of the most dysfunctional Knicks teams we've ever seen, but at 29 (he'll be 30 in May), there's still hope that he'll put himself in the championship discussion this summer in free agency. And there was never really reason to believe that the Knicks would trade him (even though they should've at least considered it).

There are great young players playing meaningless ball down the stretch, too, but there's nothing sad about watching Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins hoop right now. They have a combined age of just 43, and whether it's an ignorant assumption or not, for now we all assume that both will have plenty of time to play deep into April, May and June going forward.

With Pau it's different. He's healthy now and playing great, but he's dealt with some injury issues over the last couple of seasons and he's a 33-year-old, 13-year veteran big man with over 36,000 NBA minutes under his belt between the regular season and playoffs. It's natural to question how much he has left in the tank, and it's a downright shame that at least some of what's left is going into this meaningless Lakers finish.

In addition, while Gasol missed seven straight games leading up to the trade deadline with a groin injury, there were rumors and reports of Phoenix and other playoff teams being interested in his services. And then after not being dealt, he returned the day after the deadline and hasn't missed a beat, averaging 20.1 points, 9.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.9 blocks in the seven games since. It's been the ultimate tease for those of us who wanted to see him playing meaningful basketball again.

For what it's worth, leading up to the deadline Pau had said that he wanted to remain with the Lakers, and so if he's happy, there's no reason for his fans and observers not to be. Gasol is an unrestricted free agent this summer (he'll turn 34 in July) and who knows? Maybe the Lakers re-sign him as part of a positive summer that includes a big acquisition and some lottery luck, and they come back next year right back in the mix. Maybe Pau signs a fair contract for a productive big his age with a legitimate contender and still has a year or two of this kind of basketball left in him, and we completely forget about all of this when he's playing for another title next year.

For now all we know is that an aging Hall of Famer with plenty of miles on his body is playing his best basketball in two years without making a sound, as his team simply limps to the finish line and eventually the lottery. Without knowing what his future holds, something about watching that will remain sad.