Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 at 9:00 am  |  75 responses

Pau Gasol: ‘My Desire Is to Stay With the Lakers’


by Marcel Mutoni / @marcel_mutoni

Ever since his epic flameout in the Playoffs this summer, what was once an inconceivable thought — the idea of the Los Angeles Lakers trading away Pau Gasol — has turned into a full-fledged rumor.

There’s talk out there that a deal for Kevin Love and the Minnesota Timberwolves’ number two pick in Thursday night’s Draft for Gasol has become a possibility.

As far as Pau Gasol is concerned, however, he doesn’t want to leave sunny California for Minneapolis, or anywhere else for that matter.

The AFP reports:

Spanish forward Pau Gasol, who has been linked to a move to the Minnesota Timberwolves, said Monday he wants to stay with the Los Angeles Lakers for “as many years as I can”. The Timberwolves have reportedly been strongly pursuing Gasol to pair with Barcelona guard Ricky Rubio, who will play for the NBA side next season.

“My desire is to stay with the Lakers. I don’t have control over it but I want to stay with the Lakers for as many years as I can to be able to remain eligible for the maximum possible championships,” Gasol told reporters in the northeastern city of Alicante.

Even if the Draft comes and goes with no movement, Pau Gasol can continue to expect seeing his name bandied about in trade rumors well into next season.

After all, Dwight Howard is still out there.

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  • cramzy

    ….remain eligible for the maximum possible championships?

  • tomtom

    wow, not help my team mates to win championships or be in a possition to play for champtionships ‘be eligable’. This sentance perfectly sums up pau, that being said, as a Laker fan i would want another decent player to package with Love i wouldn’t go for a straight trade.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    IT’S A TRAP!

  • shuref00t

    Kevin Love for Pau Gasol, eh? Hmmm… very interesting! Love, the LA native playing for his home team, and Gasol teaming up with his fellow Spaniard.

  • RunNGun

    ESPN and Lakers fans are smoking crack if they think MINNY would give up the #2 and Love for Gasol. It doesn’t make sense financially especially with the new CBA coming. Kaaaaahhhnnnn would be walking the plank if he did this. And I would take Love over Gasol any day. Love’s 22 and will be around a long time. At best, Gasol only has 3-4 years left and then it will be back to rebuilding mode. This trade will not come to fruition.

  • http://twitter.com/hurstysyd Hursty

    Pau on the Magic would actually be pretty sick, if Dwight were to stay (in a fantasy world).

  • JD

    wow this deal would be bad for the twolves, why would they throw away love for a older guy who is only just as good

  • rikson

    Hopefully love gets traded so you all finally can see that hes a bum… Every year theres a mediocre player on a subpar team puttin up satts and the whole fanbase starts to hype that guy! Al Jefferson… anybody?!

  • Patrick

    @rikson Please explain to me how 53 straight double doubles is mediocre

  • c.a.

    ‘I can’t perform the way I need to perform if I’m not Pau Gasol,’ he said. ‘I need to be in a situation where I can be Pau Gasol. If it’s here with the Lakers or with somebody else. I just want to make sure I’m Pau Gasol.’ Asked if he could be ‘Pau Gasol’ in L.A, he said, ‘It just depends on the system, the people who are around the system. Who’s going to let Pau Gasol be Pau Gasol, not make Pau Gasol something that they think he should be. Pau Gasol is Pau Gasol. Everyone knows who Pau Gasol is. You’ve seen Pau Gasol play the game like it’s supposed to be played.’”

  • latoya

    Al has put up basically the same numbers he did while with the wolves with slightly improved efficiency, however he should not be a team’s number one scoring option and he should have defensive minded players along side him on the court. those have been the issues following him whatever he goes. Kevin has those same issues current, but is still young enough to prove doubters wrong.

  • http://sadjklff.com Jukai

    Kevin Love and Derrick Williams for Pau Gasol? On PAPER this works perfectly, but in real life where you look at Minny’s situation… it doesn’t make a link of sense.
    So, knowing David Khan is the GM, this is gonna happen.

  • Penny

    I wouldn’t even trade Love for Pau straight or the #2 pick straight up, and to think Love and the #2 for Pau. That’s even worse that Pau for Crittenton, Kwame Brown and a 2nd rounder. I know 1/3 of the league lost money, but come on, this is ridiculous.

  • http://gmail dirty frank

    No sh*t.

  • http://slamonline.com Brad Long

    How about Bynum and the Lakers first rounder for Rubio and the #2 pick?

  • Kobe

    Lakers dont have first rounder

  • http://slamonline.com Brad Long

    Ok, throw in Steve Blake. Kahn could always use another pg.

  • r2j

    Need a PG badly. Gasol will stay, Bynum will be trade bait but PLEASE DRAFT A YOUNG POINT GUARD PLEASE!!!

  • robb

    Dwight Howard blocking and Kevin Love rebounding? sounds like utopia, but I don’t know, I still think the Lakers should keep their bigs and get a premier PG. Maybe Gasol and Blake could go to New Orleans? Can that be done?

  • Hambone

    Love in l.a would average 45 and 5,that’s 45 boards cleaning up kobes forced j’s and Ron artests shot putts from the corner

  • dahon

    if it were’nt him, lakers couldve not won those 2 rings..dont forget about that.

  • toinefan88

    The Lakers would be crazy to let this guy go for anybody besides DHoward.

  • rikson

    No need to explain… everybody will see once hes traded! But thats just basketball… You can make nearly every player a 20 ppg or a double double guy! And minny desperately needed a face for the franchise – you know – to make some money! Lets wait n see…

  • rikson

    Yeah, but Al played like 4 minutes less his last year in minny…

  • http://slamonline.com Kap

    I can’t believe someone just posted that Love is as good as Gasol. I really wonder do people just read stat sheets or do they watch the games.

  • http://www.twitter.com/dfrance21 dfrance21

    I hate when people talk about “bums putting up star stats on a bad team” Like its easy to score 20 points or grab 10 rebounds in the NBA. If it was so easy then a lot of people would be averaging 20 and 10. of course a players number may be a little inflated playing for a losing squad, but they have to have skills to put up those kind of numbers.

  • http://slamonline.com Kap

    K. Love is good but he’s not worth Gasol and I’m one of the people hoping LA trades Gasol.

  • http://Slamonline.com Caboose

    Cosign Kap, I like Love, but he really is a stat padder who struggles on defense. He can hold his own on offense though, which is a plus for the Lakers.

  • http://Slamonline.com nbk

    31 V 22. I’d take Love. You already have Bynum for defense, Gasoline proved he’s weak, especially in the playoffs. KLove just put up 20 and 15 not 20 and 10, there’s a difference. Oh plus Kobe is getting old, Bynum’s never healthy, Lamar is a Kardashian. Love would be the future of the franchise. Pau Gasol won’t fetch much in terms of future talent take Love if you can get him.

  • http://yahoo TFC

    GUYS COME ON HOW THREE TRIPS TO THE FINALS WON’T HAPPEN IF NOT FOR PAU AND SO WITH BACK TO BACK CHAMPIONSHIPS….DON’T PANICK THATS JUST WHAT IT IS SOMETIMES WE LOSE BUT OFTEN TIMES WE WIN……..

  • Red Star

    I like! Lakers 4 Life!!!

  • Patrick

    @rikson I’m not saying Kevin Love is a superstar, but HOLD UP. He just broke a record that no one else has been able to do since the merger in 76. That’s mediocre?! I know there have been plenty of bad teams since then…Nobody else could’ve padded their stats on those teams? Love can play.

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    F*ck their age difference. Love will never be as good as Gasol.

  • http://slamonline.com Kap

    I’m not trading a poor man’s Kevin Mchale for Brad Miller Jr. no matter the age difference. If the #2 pick is involved then I would really think about it.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Their age difference is the reason that doesn’t matter. Love will be better then Gasol every year from here on out. Well actually Gasol might be better for what 2 more years….max. This would be a no brainer to me, unless you really think the difference between Pau Gasol and Kevin Love is the difference between the championship and getting swept by the champion….oh wait.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    I brought this trade up last night. Love has a chance to be the scorer that Gasol is, but I doubt he could become that great of a passer for his size(like Gasol is)but on the other hand Gasol can’t rebound like Love can(nor do I think he’ll ever). I don’t think you could really ever count on Love playing with his tail between his legs like Gasol did this past post-season. Love has the upside, because more can be done to his game to improve, he has the better potential as of late.

  • http://slamonline.com Kap

    I see the Lakers losing more than they gain with the trade. Can you play Love and Odom together at the 4 & 5? Does K. Love require a double team? I don’t think so. They get weaker on defense and offense in my opinion. I would rather pry Derrick Favors and #3 pick to land Brandon Knight than the Minnesota deal.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    We’re gaining the #2 pick with that trade, Kap. We could either land a solid guard, or Forward/Center. Not to mention the future NBA Star Kevin Love. Kevin is definitely more of a sure thing than Derrick Favors at this point.

  • Dru

    LA will regret this trade if they move Pau for Love.

  • fizzbucket

    Well, obviously Gasol would want to stay in L.A. Duh.
    -
    Lakers should pull the trigger on that if the rumor actually has any truth to it. Kevin Love and Derrick Williams for an aging and increasingly underperforming Gasol. Make it happen…Buss.

  • http://sadjklff.com Jukai

    Derrick Favors doesn’t have anywhere near the upside Kevin Love does. I know Kevin Love really isn’t a 22-16 player on a regular team, but damn, Favors? Really?
    Kevin Love for Gasol straight up is bad for the Lakers. Kevin Love and the second draft pick is GOOD for the Lakers, especially with the chance that Cleveland drafts Kanter. Irving and Love > Gasol.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joe.l.brewer3 BlackPhantom

    Exactly.

  • Jose

    Make It Happen Kahn!!! haha

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Derrick Favors has to have more upside then Kevin Love. Are you serious? His chance of actually realizing that potential is slim to none, but he can be a consistent DPOY candidate, and could be an 18-12 guy for a long time. AN efficient 18-12. Love’s 22-16 was his ceiling, and he gives teams almost nothing on the ball on defense. I would rather have Love everyday f every week….but potential wise, I would probably give the edge to Favors.

  • http://cnbc.com JTaylor21

    Gasol is a very good player but let’s not go to far and compare dude to McHale. Gasol may look and play like dude but McHale had twice the post moves, is a superior defender and never struggled against physical defense the way Gasol tends to. Still to this day I remember McHale abusing the original twin towers (Hakeem/Sampson) in the 86 Finals, I doubt Gasol could have the same amount of success vs such an intimidating frontline.

  • holiday

    Anybody that thinks this is a bad trade for LA is crazy, they get a real young and talented PF, plus they probably draft Kemba or Knight to run PG and Fisher is the mentor… come on I hate LA but they would greatly benefit from this deal!

  • idrees

    trade pau for blake griffin, not kevin love. kobe, shannon and blake. if not blake griffin, then lamarcus aldridge.

  • http://slamonline heat4life

    pau cant gaurd k love, dirk, lamarcus, or blake. hes weak.i hate la but they need a physical pf.

  • monkeyball

    Gasol for Love and a high pick is a great deal for LA. Gasol is great offensively, but the Lakers have Bynum itching for low-post touches. Odom and Kobe are great scorers and passers from the low post. They gain toughness, rebounding, and hunger from Love, and presumably a good talented wing to make Ron Artest unnecessary.

  • http://slamonline.com Kap

    Favors did pretty well last year for a guy who didn’t get consistent playing time and was traded. Many compared him to TD in college.

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