The signing of Andre Drummond by the Los Angeles Lakers brought in some uncertainty about the future of Marc Gasol. The rumors appeared that the reigning NBA champions could buy out his contract. However, the team’s head coach Frank Vogel maintained that he needs all three of his centers — Drummond, Gasol and Montrezl Harrell.
Despite these comments, Gasol’s refusal to address the media for three consecutive times further fuelled the speculations. The Spaniard joined the Lakers expecting to be the starting center, though with the arrival of Drummond the latter is expected to take that position.
After the Lakers defeated the Kings, the topic once again came up during postgame press conference. “I think people need to understand how good of a player Marc Gasol is and how valuable he is to what we’re doing,” Vogel said.
“We’re going to play our most important players. So he’s going to help us win a championship this year. That’s the plan, that’s the vision. Obviously, Andre coming along gives us the depth. But we’re going to need all three of those guys. We stated that from day one.
“Marc’s one of our most important players. He dominated the game tonight with 5 points, okay. This is what Marc brings to the table. He’s a dominant defensive big, former Defensive Player of the Year. And he doesn’t need shots offensively which is good for our group. He facilitates, he wins the offensive possessions with his passing in his three-point shooting. And that’s not what’s going to result in 20 points per game whatever. But it helps us win. We all just need to recognize how important it is what we’re trying to do here. Like I said, we’re going to play our most important players. We’re excited about what he’s going to do for us down the stretch.”
Gasol played 28 minutes in win over the Kings which was close to his season-high 30 minutes against the Timberwolves. This season he is averaging 4.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game for the Lakers.
