This much is clear from pretty much every source west of the Mississippi River — the Lakers are not shopping Pau Gasol right now. Despite the wishes of some Lakers fans.
They say they want to see what happens when they get Gasol and Steve Nash healthy at the same time, and pair them with Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard. They say they want to give Mike D’Antoni a full shot with this roster healthy to see if he can make it work. Somewhere Mike Brown just read that sentence and shook his head.
There may be another reason, Ric Bucher of CSNBBayArea.com reported on Sulia.Ignore any and all trade talk about Pau Gasol because the Lakers landed Steve Nash by promising him he would get to play with Gasol. Nash made it a prerequisite for passing on offers from Toronto and the Knicks that Pau would be around, the source said….
Conceivably, once Nash gets back and actually plays with Gasol, the Lakers could continue to struggle and Nash re-thinks his position. But as of right now, one of the enticements that brought Nash to LA was the big Spaniard and the organization would have much bigger problems than they already have if they backtracked on their promise to keep Gasol in the fold.
There are reports that Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak has warned the Gasol camp that if things don’t work out he could be traded. If it ever gets that far the Lakers are going to find that the market for a 32-year-old making $19 million a year is limited.
But first we have to get that far, and we are a ways away from there