Pau Gasol poised to join Spurs; Duncan to retire?
LOS ANGELES — Pau Gasol has agreed to join San Antonio on a two-year deal worth $ 30 million as Spurs legend Tim Duncan mulled retirement, reports said Monday.
Spanish star Gasol has verbally agreed to join San Antonio after spending the past two seasons with the Chicago Bulls.
The former Los Angeles Lakers player averaged a double-double (16.5 points, 11.0 rebounds) per game last season but was unable to lead the Bulls into the playoffs.
Gasol, 35, became a free agent on June 27 and is expected to double his current salary in Chicago.
His move to San Antonio completes a long courtship which began in 2014, when he almost signed for the team before heading to Chicago instead.
News of Gasol’s expected move came as a report in San Antonio surfaced suggesting that longserving power forward Duncan was preparing to call time on his 19-year career.
The three- time NBA Finals MVP and two-time regular-season MVP, widely regarded as one of the best power forwards ever to play the game, has hinted to officials and teammates that he plans to retire imminently.
Duncan, 40, was the number one pick in the 1997 draft and is one of only two players to win an NBA title in three different decades.
Duncan has averaged 19 points and 10.8 rebounds per game during his career.
Last season’s campaign was disrupted by a knee injury and he played in only 61 games.
OLYMPICS
Spanish basketball star Pau Gasol will go to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, he announced in comments published Saturday, after considering skipping the Games due to fears over the Zika virus.
“My responsibility was to alert people on Zika as it’s a serious issue, and my responsibility is also to be with the national team in Rio,” he wrote in his column in Spanish sports daily Marca.
“I want to go, I want to be with the team, I want to achieve my fourth Olympic Games.”
The 35-year- old, who helped Spain win the silver medal at both the 2008 and 2012 Games, wrote Saturday that he was still not fully convinced. —