Marc Gasol on free agency: 'I won't say no to anything right now'
The marquee free agent of the 2015 class knows he's going to make the right decision.
Marc Gasol will be an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career in July, and the list of teams inquiring will be lengthy. The former Defensive Player of the Year remains dominant at age 29 and is having the best offensive season of his career, putting him firmly in maximum contract territory.
He's averaging 20.1 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.6 blocks in 32 games, shooting 50.4 percent from the floor and leading the Memphis Grizzlies to a top-10 ranking on both ends of the floor.
Right now, Gasol's focus is on those 24-8 Grizzlies, who stand the best chance of resigning him based on the collective bargaining agreement. That doesn't mean he'd consider them the favorite, because Gasol hasn't given the matter much thought.
As the Spaniard told the Los Angeles Daily News:
I haven't weighed anything yet. We'll sit down and have a human eye-to-eye conversation. We'll see what we're looking for the next four or five years of my life with this team, different teams and my family. Whatever decision I make, it would be the best.
It's nice that Gasol knows his decision will be the best. It's also a really funny way to frame a pretty major life choice he has to make pretty soon.
One of the most notable suitors for Gasol could be the Los Angeles Lakers, who originally drafted him back in 2007 before trading him to Memphis for Pau Gasol. The Lakers will have the cap space to make a run at him, and they always have the history of the franchise and size of their market working in their favor.
"I won't say no to anything right now," Gasol said when asked about being the second Gasol to star alongside Kobe Bryant. "If it's presented to me, I'll think about it. If not, I won't."
It's tough to picture Gasol bolting Memphis, where he can receive a fifth year and upwards of $20 million extra on a contract, unless Memphis is willing to sign-and-trade him. He's the anchor of an effective defense and a focal point of an improving offense, on a team with a strong culture and a sustained run of success. That would be tough to walk away from.