Was the chance to play with Pau Gasol one of the primary reasons for Nash’s decision to become a Laker in the offseason?
According to Ric Bucher’s source (more on that below), that appears to be the case and if so, the rumors of the Lakers having a desire to acquire Ryan Anderson becomes a moot point.
The question is, does Nash still feel the same way after seeing how much Gasol has struggled up to this point of the season? Before sitting out the previous contest due to knee tendinitis against the New Orleans Pelicans Hornets – where Anderson did his best to show what the Lakers are missing by dropping 31 points on them – Gasol had averaged 12.6 points on a career-low 42 percent shooting from the field. That is probably not the version of Gasol that Nash had in mind before signing with the team.
More importantly, the point guard’s desire to play alongside Gasol was before the team managed to acquire Dwight Howard, who is by far the best center in the league – even if he isn’t playing like one at the moment. With such a dominant pick-and-roll partner at his disposal, is it really necessary to have a struggling 32-year-old Gasol by his side as well? No one knows what is going through Nash’s mind, but it wouldn’t be all that surprising if he changed his tune on the situation, especially if there is a good trade on the table and it helps the Lakers become a better team in the long run.
Moving onto other relevant news around the league from Wednesday: