Los Angeles Lakers: Grading the 2020-21 offseason acquisitions

6. Marc Gasol

Price: 2 years, $5.26mil, fully guaranteed.

If you simply look at the standard box score numbers, this signing isn’t much to get excited about. 7.2 PPG, 6.2 RPG, and 42.7% from the field were all career-low marks. However, advanced statistics paint a very interesting story:

Gasol was in the 99th percentile in the NBA for Defensive PIPM, meaning he played at a DPOY-level last year for Toronto.

Watching the way he both quarterbacks a defense and destroys talented offensive centers (Joel Embiid and Nikola Vucevic must still have nightmares about Gasol) is a thing of beauty.

Furthermore, he’s an above-average shooter (sense a theme this offseason?), hitting them at 38.5% last season, and a gifted passer (ranking in the 92nd percentile for role-adjusted assist points per 75 possessions).

Even at almost 36 years of age, Gasol is a swiss-army knife and the ultimate glue guy on a team loaded with talent. What he lacks in athleticism compared to his predecessors JaVale McGee and Dwight Howard, he more than makes up for with basketball IQ and skill.

For only $2.5mil a year, all the little things Gasol does at a high level are invaluable to a team with championship aspirations.

Grade: A

Now, it’s time to talk about one of the biggest Lakers signings of the offseason.