3. Marc Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers
Five years ago, a Marc Gasol-LeBron James pairing would have been an absolute dream for basketball fans. Still, the aging big man is a great fit for this Los Angeles Lakers team.
The Lakers signed Gasol to a two-year, $5.3 million deal, after signing Sixth Man of the Year candidate center Montrezl Harrell. Gasol and Harrell’s roles will likely be similar to Javale McGee and Dwight Howard’s roles on last year’s Lakers squad, respectively. Both Lakers centers would play under twenty minutes per game, but Javale would start and Dwight would play the majority of center minutes down the stretch. The younger Harrell probably plays more minutes than Dwight did, though.
Gasol logged 26 minutes per game for the Toronto Raptors last season and still played over 20 minutes per game in the postseason. Even if he’s not on the floor a ton for the Lakers, it’s going to be a lot of fun when he is.
Although Gasol has lost his “best passing big man” title to Denver’s dime-dropping Nikola Jokic, Big Spain is one of the most-skilled passing centers in recent memory.
Gasol operating from the elbow with either LeBron James or Anthony Davis cutting to the rim is going to be devastating.
It isn’t just Gasol’s passing that will benefit the Lakers offensively – his shooting is top-notch. Gasol shot 39 percent from 3 in the regular season last year. This opens up a lot of opportunities for the Lakers’ offense. With Gasol, the Lakers will not have to sacrifice spacing if they want to play Davis with a true center (which Davis prefers). Gasol will be able to help out AD down low while still keeping the floor spread.