Tag Archives: Memphis Grizzlies

Los Angeles Lakers to Retire Pau Gasol’s No. 16 Jersey

Posted on by
Reply

Pau Gasol’s name and number are headed to the rafters…

The 42-year-old Spanish former professional basketball player will join a long line of legendary players when his number is retired in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ rafters next season.

Pau Gasol

The Lakers will honor Gasol’s No. 16 on March 7 when it hosts the Memphis Grizzlies, the team has announced as part of its schedule release for 2022-23.

Gasol, a six-time NBA All-Star and a four-time All-NBA team selection, was traded from the Memphis to L.A. in 2008 and teamed with Kobe Bryant to lead the Lakers to three straight NBA Finals appearances and two championships.

Gasol played in L.A. until 2014 when he signed with the Chicago Bulls as a free agent. He earned three of his six career All-Star appearances in his time with the franchise.

He retired from basketball last fall after a final season in his native Spain.

Gasol’s jersey will hang alongside Hall of Fame centers Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal and Wilt Chamberlain as well as Bryant, Magic Johnson, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, James Worthy, Gail Goodrich and Jamaal Wilkes.

Toronto’s Marc Gasol Preparing for Emotional First Matchup Against Former Memphis Grizzlies Team

Posted on by
Reply

Marc Gasol is preparing for an emotional first…

The 35-year-old Spanish professional basketball player, currently playing for the Toronto Raptors, is mentally preparing to face-off against his former team.

Marc Gasol,

Gasol played for parts of 11 seasons with the Memphis Grizzlies, going to three All-Star Games with the team’s jersey on his back, earning two All-NBA selections there and a Defensive Player of the Year award.

And now, he’ll play against his former team for the first time.

The Grizzlies face Gasol and the Raptors on Sunday. It’ll be the first game between the clubs since Gasol was traded to Toronto in February 2019 — a move that helped the Raptors win last season’s NBA championship.

Gasol said facing Memphis would be emotional.

“I got there when I was 16 years old. It was my first time out of Spain,” said Gasol, who still owns his Memphis home. “I started high school there as a teenager and left as a father of two kids. … My ties to the city and my roots go pretty deep and my love for the people there, what they mean and the franchise, it’s forever.”

Gasol helped Memphis make the playoffs in seven consecutive seasons including the 2013 run to the Western Conference finals. He’s the Grizzlies’ all-time leader for minutes played, field goals made, free throws made and attempted, rebounds, blocks and triple-doubles and is second in points — 49 behind Mike Conley.

The Raptors were supposed to have played back-to-back games against Memphis this season, going there on March 28 and then playing host to the Grizzlies March 30. Those games were called off due to the season suspension caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Obviously it’s a little bittersweet that we couldn’t play in the city of Memphis, to get that love and feel that Iove from the fans,” Raptors guard Fred VanVleet said. “But I’m sure he’ll be happy to see some familiar faces and a lot of the people that he spent a lot of time with over the years.”

Pau Gasol Agrees to One-Year Deal with the Portland Trail Blazers

Posted on by
Reply

Pau Gasol will be blazing a new trail…

The 39-year-old Spanish professional basketball player has agreed to a one-year, $2.6 million deal with the Portland Trail Blazers, according to ESPN.

Pau Gasol

Gasol joins a reshaped Trail Blazers roster that’s prepared to make a run at a return to the Western Conferencefinals — and perhaps beyond.

On Twitter, Gasol said he’s enthused to join the Blazers.

“I’m very excited to announce that next season (my 19th in the @NBA) I’ll play for the @trailblazers,” he tweeted, adding, “Ready and happy to join one of the best teams in the league!”

Gasol will be added to a center rotation that includes Hassan Whiteside, Zach Collins and Jusuf Nurkic — once Nurkic returns from a serious leg injury.

Portland had success with a center rotation that included Enes Kanter late last season and into the playoffs. Kanter signed with the Boston Celtics this summer.

Gasol brings the résumé of a future Hall of Famer as compiled across 18 NBA seasons, including two championships and six All-Starappearances.

He signed with the Milwaukee Bucks after a buyout with the San Antonio Spurslast season but played only three games with Milwaukee before a season-ending foot injury. 

Gasol finished the campaign having played just 30 games, averaging a career-low 3.9 points and 4.6 rebounds.

Gasol discussed a free-agent deal with the Blazers in 2016 before signing with San Antonio.

He also has played with the Memphis Grizzlies, Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls, and he had an outstanding FIBAcareer with the Spanish national team.

Marc Gasol Traded to the Toronto Raptors

Posted on by
Reply

Marc Gasolis headed to the Great White North.

The Memphis Grizzlies have traded the 24-year-old Spanish professional basketball player to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for Jonas Valanciunas, Delon Wright, CJ Miles and a 2024 second-round draft pick.

Marc Gasol

“Marc brings significant playoff experience to our team, which along with his savviness and leadership skills really helps position us for our ultimate postseason goal,” Raptors president Masai Ujirisaid Thursday night. “We look forward to welcoming Marc to our city and team.”

Head coach Nick Nursesaid he believes Gasol’s experience will give the Raptors “a settling force” come playoff time.

“I think that there’s a lot of positives with a guy like Gasol, and I think most of them come with being battle-tested,” Nurse said. “I think we all know that those playoffs can get wild and woolly, and he’s a guy that’s been through them many times.”

Gasol is averaging 15.7 points, 8.6 rebounds and a career-high 4.7 assists (which ranks second among NBAcenters, trailing only Nikola Jokic‘s 7.7). He is the Grizzlies’ franchise leader in points, rebounds, blocks and field goals made.

Gasol has been with the Grizzlies for 11 seasons, which was tied with Russell Westbrook for the fourth-longest tenure with one franchise among active players. 

A three-time All-Starand the 2013 Defensive Player of the Year, Gasol has a 15 percent trade bonus that is valued at $1.28 million. The amount of his bonus (if not waived) will be applied to his $24.1 million salary.

Gasol also has a $25.6 million player option for next season.

Gasol & the Memphis Grizzlies Agree to Five-Year Max Deal Worth $110 million

Posted on by
Reply

Marc Gasol will keep walking (and dribbling) in Memphis…

The 30-year-old Spanish professional basketball player and the Memphis Grizzlies have agreed to a five-year max contract worth an estimated $110 million, according to ESPN sources.

Marc Gasol

The deal includes a player option that would allow Gasol to opt out and become a free agent after the fourth year of the contract, according to sources.

The exact monetary value of the deal, which was agreed to Monday, will be determined by the league’s salary cap.

Gasol, as previously reported by ESPN, shunned the opportunity to let interested teams court him in free agency, signaling to the rest of the league ‎that he essentially was unavailable to everyone except Memphis.

‎Teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers‎, New York Knicks ‎and Milwaukee Bucks‎ — all of whom had designs on making a run at the Spaniard in free agency — abandoned all plans to pitch Gasol before free agency began.

Players and teams can come to verbal agreements on deals, but no contracts can be formally signed until Thursday, when a leaguewide moratorium on roster business is lifted.

Gasol was selected with the 48th overall pick by the Lakers in the 2007 draft. In the 2008 deal that brought his brother Pau Gasol to the Lakers, Marc Gasol’s rights were sent to the Grizzlies.

In seven seasons with Memphis, Gasol has developed into one of the league’s premier big men, winning NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2013. He was selected as first-team All-NBA last season, second-team All-NBA in 2014, and he has twice been named an All-Star (2012, ’15).

Gasol has averaged double-figure scoring in all seven of his NBA seasons, with a career-high 17.6 points per game last season in 81 games, all starts. He was regarded as the anchor of one of the league’s best defensive teams despite not being an elite rim protector (1.6 blocks per game last season).

Gasol was an integral piece to the Grizzlies’ rise, leading them to 55 wins last season and a first-round playoff victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. The Grizzlies have appeared in five consecutive postseasons and made it to the Western Conference finals in 2013 before bowing out in four games to the San Antonio Spurs.

In 2011, Gasol signed a four-year, $58 million deal with the Grizzlies.

Arenas to Play Ball for the Shanghai Sharks

Posted on by
Reply

Gilbert Arenas is headed to The Middle Kingdom…

The 30-year-old part-Cuban American basketball star has signed on to play with the Chinese league’s Shanghai Sharks, whose owner and president is former NBA star Yao Ming.

Gilbert Arenas

Arenas, who previously played for the Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors, Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards, has been negotiating with the Guangdong Southern Tigers but opted to sign with the Sharks, who nearly disappeared due to financial problems in 2009 and were saved by Yao.

Arenas’ signing adds quality to the league, which begins play on Saturday, and follows the signing of Tracy McGrady by the Qingdao Eagles.

McGrady, known as “T-Mac,” was a teammate of Yao’s with the Houston Rockets.

Arenas, known as “Agent Zero,” could make his debut in the opening tournament on Saturday, when the Sharks take on the defending champion Beijing Ducks, a team led by former NBA star Stephon Marbury.

Four More Years for the Grizzlies’ Gasol…

Posted on by
Reply

NBA star Marc Gasol has no plans to leave his Memphis home in the near future…

The 26-year-old Spanish ‘baller has signed a new $58 million contract with the Memphis Grizzlies to stay with the team for the next four years.

Marc Gasol

“I didn’t see myself other than with this team, whether it was going to be for the long term or one year,” said the the 7-foot-1 center after signing his contract extension. “I definitely thought I would be here this year.”

There was a lot on speculation that Gasol would play out the final year of his Grizzlies contract and become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. And, team officials had vowed all along to match any contract offer from another team.

Now that Gasol is staying put, the Grizzlies will keep the core of the team that made the Western Conference semifinals last season intact.

Gasol helped lead the Grizzlies to their best season in franchise history. Memphis, which had never even won a playoff game before last season, defeated the Western Conference’s top-seeded San Antonio Spurs in the opening round, then went to a deciding seventh game against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“In the short three years here, Marc has advanced through the ranks and become one of the top centers, not just the top young centers, but the top centers overall in the NBA,” says Memphi general manager Chris Wallace.

Last season, Gasol averaged 11.7 points, 7.0 rebounds and a career-high 2.5 assists and 1.68 blocks in the regular season. But he averaged 15.0 points and 11.2 rebounds in the postseason.