JANUARY 20, 1:54pm: Gasol will undergo surgery today to repair the fracture in his hand, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. The timeline for Gasol’s recovery still hasn’t been announced, and will depend on how his hand heels, Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter).
JANUARY 19, 8:26pm: Spurs center Pau Gasol intends to opt in for the final year of his two-year contract, Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express-News reports. Shortly after informing Young of his intentions, Gasol suffered a fracture on his left hand during warmups on Thursday night, according to a team tweet.
The timetable for Gasol’s return to action will be determined at a later date, a team release added. He fractured his left fourth metacarpal.
Gasol has a player option worth $16MM this summer and doesn’t see any reason why he should enter the free agent market for the second straight year.
“My intention is to continue here, and to be here as long as I can,” he told Young.
Gasol, who turns 37 this summer, is averaging a career-low 11.7 points and 7.9 rebounds in 26.4 minutes with San Antonio. But he has no regrets about signing with one of the Western Conference’s top teams.
“It was a great decision,” he told Young. “I came here to have a chance to win a title and we’re second in the league right now, second best record, so that puts you in a position to win a title. That was a priority, and it still is.”