Los Angeles Lakers center Marc Gasol has had a very nice career when you look at his earlier years in the NBA.
Gasol won a ring with the Toronto Raptors in 2019, was named Defensive Player Of the Year and to the NBA All-Defensive Team in 2012-2013. He was also a three-time All-Star who once averaged19.5 points per game and was known as one of the better passing big men in the league.
Gasol is 36 years old. Personally, I do not believe in age as I feel it is just a number, but when it comes to athletes that have spent year after year going through a very intense process, we can expect to see some of their skills start to fall off a bit (unless you are LeBron James and you seem to get better with age).
When the Lakers signed him this past offseason, they knew his better days were behind him as they needed to fill a void. He would no longer be needed to score as his points per game average has dropped ever since he was traded to Toronto from Memphis.
Watching him play this year, I am confused and a bit befuddled as I wonder if his skills have totally diminished to a much lower capacity than they were, or is he just plain out of gas and can no longer compete?
I didn’t expect him to dominate at all as he would be a role player that could play solid defense, help run the offense, grab some rebounds, pass, and occasionally score when he could. That has not happened as all I have seen him do is be a good passer.
The Los Angeles Lakers need more than that from Marc Gasol.
All of Gasol’s numbers are way down. His scoring average is at a career-low 3.7 points per game along with 4.4 rebounds per game. He is also shooting 36% which is far below his career average of 48%.
Most importantly, he doesn’t give the Lakers much. He doesn’t add some bit of a spark to the offense, and his defensive skills seem to be quite limited these days. Gasol is quick to pass the ball away when he does get it and when he does shoot the ball, I never have seen him use his post-up skills or try and draw a foul from the defender. He is also at a career-low with free throw attempts.
I don’t see what he brings to the team to help them. If he’s not going to try and score, or rebound, then what good is it? Not to play the hindsight game, but the Los Angeles Lakers were much better off with JaVale McGee or Dwight Howard and Gasol possesses better offensive skills in terms of a mid-range jump shot and an occasional three-pointer than both of them.