FanPost

Final Roster Spot: Gasol still a possibility?


With James Wiseman and Kevon Looney sharing the center position, the Golden State Warriors are a little thin there on the depth chart. Draymond can obviously play the five and there will be some lineups with Bjelica as a floor-stretching big, but those are stopgap measures, not my idea of big-man depth. When Marc Gasol and the Lakers parted ways, I thought he might fix the dubs' need for center depth while also serving as a mentor for young Wiseman with his professional presence and solid fundamentals.

Using the 15th roster spot on a legit backup point guard makes sense and might be the greater need, however, so I definitely support the training camp invitations to Avery Bradley, Langston Galloway & GPII to compete for that job. I know Mulder is there, too, but he seems to be a long-shot. Same thing for Bell--he's not making this team. He's there because Wiseman can't scrimmage.

But I still would be intrigued by the possibility of adding Gasol, and maybe there is a way.

Only $500K of Damion Lee's contract is guaranteed which if I'm not mistaken means he can be waived before Jan.10, 2022 without having to eat the cost of his whole year's salary and it's luxury-tax-amplified cap hit. Gasol, for his part, would probably only be interested in playing for a possible contender, so for the first couple of months of the season, he can chill in Spain, stay in shape and watch the games. And if the Dubs are looking good on Jan 10 (by which time Klay Thompson will have had his first handful of games in his return to the court), Myers could be getting a phone call from Steve Huemann of Creative Artists Agency. They've probably already talked about it.

I like D. Lee, but I think I'd like Gasol on the roster more. Assuming one of these camp-invite guards works out, Lee might not play much anyway. One thing that could nix the whole deal is the fact that Lee has an influential family member. Bro-in-law Steph could veto the whole idea. But would he? Those conversations are undoubtedly happening also. My guess is that Steph would not stand in the way of improving the roster. Lee would understand it's the nature of the business and would act like a professional. He'd have a decent chance of landing somewhere, too. He might not clear waivers. In fact I could imagine the Lakers finding a use for him and they might keep a slot open.

Pure, unsubstantiated speculation, I admit. But I wouldn't be shocked if it happened something like this.

This FanPost is a submission from a member of the mighty Golden State of Mind community. While we're all here to throw up that W, these words do not necessarily reflect the views of the GSoM Crew. Still, chances are the preceding post is Unstoppable Baby!