Oh how quickly things can change.
Leading into Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, it looked like the Chicago Bulls were serious about moving the 35-year-old Pau Gasol, who is expected to decline his player option for next season and enter free agency. Rumors were so rampant, yours truly wasted entirely too much time doing this:
Gar: We've traded you.
Pau: To Rox?
Fred: No.
Pau: NY?
Jimmy: U wish.
Rose: LOL
Pau: Where?
Jo: KINGS.
Pau: pic.twitter.com/f6V7EmvF56
— Dan Favale (@danfavale) February 18, 2016
Alas, the Bulls did not move Gasol to the Sacramento Kings or another team. In fact, they went the other way. Not long after the 3 p.m. cutoff came to pass, general manager Gar Forman indicated the Bulls plan on trying to re-sign their big man, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:
In interview with the Tribune, Bulls GM Gar Forman confirms team will try to re-sign Pau Gasol this summer.
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) February 18, 2016
Yeah…This is weird.
Gasol has made an All-Star appearance in each of his first two seasons with the Bulls, and he’s producing like someone 10 years his junior. The Bulls may also have a need for a big with Joakim Noah entering free agency and Taj Gibson slated to hit the open market in 2017.
But Gasol will be 36 years old when next season rolls around, and the Bulls aren’t going to get him for the $7.8 million he’s supposed to earn. He will likely command a three or four year deal that could pay him upwards of $10 million annually. And that’s a shoddy investment for a Bulls team that is going in the completely opposite direction of title contention.
They have Jimmy Butler, and that’s it. Nikola Mirotic is injured and hasn’t proved to be anything more than an average stretch big; Doug McDermott is hot and cold; Noah is good as gone; Taj Gibson probably won’t be around after next season; and Derrick Rose is never going to regain his previous perform.
There is only Butler, and rookie Bobby Portis. The Bulls, then, should be looking to get younger, not devoting a valuable chunk of cap space to an aging big who, while talented, doesn’t bring them any closer to fielding a legitimate title contender.
