2. Pau Gasol gives the Los Angeles Lakers needed depth
The Los Angeles Lakers are a fairly deep team and no matter what happens in the offseason, the team is going to look to get deeper. They have certain players such as Dwight Howard that they are going to have to make a decision on with the biggest storyline being Anthony Davis’ potential free agency.
While the Lakers are not set up to lose many players in the offseason, they could use some depth because of external factors and Gasol would be the perfect veteran minimum guy to bring in and play 8-10 minutes per game.
Not only may they have to replace the likes of Dudley or Howard if they do not re-sign, but the team (and the rest of the NBA) is working on an abbreviated schedule. The 2020-21 season is going to start in December, and if the Lakers make it to the NBA Finals, they will really only have a month of an offseason until training camp picks back up.
This condensed schedule and shorter offseason should make the teams cautious and if the Lakers make a deep title run (which they are going to) then the team is going to have to restrict the rotation at the beginning of the 2020-21 season to be cautious. Thus, the Lakers might need to utilize more players in the actual rotation and move more towards the max 13 guys.
Depth is going to be critically important moving forward and the Lakers have a veteran minimum option that they know they have no competition for.