JULY 25: The Trail Blazers have officially signed Gasol, the team announced today in a press release.
“Pau is a future Hall of Famer that brings invaluable championship experience and an elite skill set and basketball IQ to our roster,” Blazers president of basketball operations Neil Olshey said in a statement.
JULY 24: Pau Gasol has agreed to a one-year contract with the Trail Blazers, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN tweets. He’ll receive the veteran’s minimum of $2.6MM, Bobby Marks of ESPN tweets.
The veteran big man finished last season with the Bucks, who let him go as an unrestricted free agent. Gasol underwent surgery in May to repair a navicular stress fracture in his left foot. He’s expected to make a full recovery in advance of training camp.
After being bought out and waived by the Spurs and arriving in Milwaukee in early March, the six-time All-Star appeared in just three games, averaging 1.3 PPG and 3.3 RPG in 10.0 minutes per contest. Gasol turned 39 this month but was determined to continue his career for at least another season.
Gasol provides insurance with Jusuf Nurkic recovering from a serious leg injury suffered in late March. Hassan Whiteside was acquired from the Heat this offseason to start in his place. Zach Collins can also swing over to the “five” spot.
Portland now has 14 players with guaranteed contracts.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Trail Blazers could still use some depth at PG with their last roster spot. They could use Livingston or Lin.
Livingston is gonna call it quits and be on the Warriors coaching staff
Lin would make ALOT of sense for them good call.
Great pickup. He’ll help them create bench mismatches in the playoffs, assuming he’s healthy. Not too many bench bigs can outplay Pau for a full 10-15 minutes, and he’s a good enough passer they can run offense thru him in the right matchup.
Great signing! Just the kind of depth the Blazers need.
DO NOT SLEEP ON THE BLAZERS!