Lakers big man Pau Gasol is less-than-thrilled about coming off of the bench, but he says that he still wants to stay in Los Angeles. Unfortunately for the Spaniard, it’s not his call. Here’s the latest out of the Pacific Division with the latest Gasol trade speculation..
- Tim MacMahon of ESPNDallas.com asks if the Mavericks should be interested in Gasol. While MacMahon believes that Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki would make for a strong combo in the frontcourt, he doesn’t believe that it would be wise for Dallas to compromise their cap flexibility this summer by dealing for Gasol.
- Suns center Jermaine O’Neal and General Manager Lance Blanks engaged in an expletive-laced confrontation in the coach’s office on Monday, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports. It was initially reported today that O’Neal missed practice with a medical issue and wouldn’t make the team’s trip to Sacramento. The veteran is on a one year deal for the veteran’s minimum.
- Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel looked at packages the Heat could put together to pry Gasol away from the Lakers. The salaries would match up in a deal sending Mike Miller, Udonis Haslem, Joel Anthony, James Jones, and Dexter Pittman to L.A., but one has to imagine that the Lakers can do better.
- The shakeup in Phoenix continues as Dan Majerle will not return as a Suns assistant, writes Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Meanwhile, assistant Elston Turner‘s future is still up in the air, Coro tweets.
- Unless the Lakers want to move one of their future Hall of Famers, they won’t be able to make an impact move before the deadline, writes Ramona Shelburne of ESPNLosAngeles.com.
A front court of Pau and Dirk would be interesting, but I don’t know about it defensively.