It looked like Pau Gasol was moving into a Big Man Emeritus role during his final seasons with the Lakers before having a return to form with the Chicago Bulls over the past two seasons. Now he’ll fulfill the destiny of the Gasol family by signing a two-year, $30 million deal with the San Antonio Spurs. With Tim Duncan likely retiring, Gasol gives the Spurs another future Hall of Famer to play center beside LaMarcus Aldridge.

Gasol’s PER dropped to 16.7 and 19.3 during his final two seasons with the Lakers, as did his games played, but he became an All-Star again in the Eastern Conference with his PER going back up to 22.7 and 21.7.

Gasol continues to be a productive offensive player with his savvy array of old man moves and will make the Spurs better on that end of the floor more than what Duncan could contribute last season. Chicago was only 0.6 points per 100 possessions better on offense, however, with Gasol on the floor. Gasol ideally would be a second unit scorer at this point in his career, but he’s the perfect complement for the Spurs with his tremendous passing and ability to operate around the elbows. 

The floor spacing with Gasol instead of Duncan within San Antonio’s offense will make them vastly improved on that end of the floor. Gasol has always had a solid mid-range jumper and he began to finally shoot with more frequency from three over the past few seasons. Gasol shot 46.2 percent on 26 attempts in 14-15 and 34.8 percent on 69 attempts in 15-16. San Antonio will almost certainly test Gasol’s shooting with more attempts.

Gasol has had no interest in coming off the bench, but the prospect of him anchoring San Antonio’s second unit when Aldridge and Leonard sit would make me like the deal far more for them. With the Spurs losing Boris Diaw to create the cap space for Gasol, Duncan likely retired and Boban Marjanovic also gone, Gregg Popovich will need Aldridge to play some center no matter how much he hates it and Gasol will have to play with/against reserves.

While Gasol is a clear downgrade from Duncan defensively, he ranked fourth in the NBA in Nylon Calculus’ Rim Protection stat this past season though the Bulls were only 1.0 points per 100 possessions better on defense with him on the floor. Gasol is not a good defensive rebounder and also is a sever liability in pick and rolls. The Spurs will hope to be too much size for the Warriors’ small lineups, but there’s no real way for a Gasol and Aldridge lineup to defend that much space and shooting. This will be a common theme for all other 29 teams though against the Warriors and signing Gasol puts them fairly comfortably in second in the Western Conference again.

San Antonio ranked first in the NBA in defense at 99.0 points allowed per 100 possessions and also first in efficiency differential despite ‘only’ winning 67 games compared to 73 for the Warriors. Even without Duncan, the drop off with Gasol taking his minutes won’t be severe for as long as Leonard is playing at a Defensive Player of the Year level. 

The news that Duncan is likely retiring came soon after Kevin Durant announced his decision, a fairly clear signal his future was tied to the Spurs getting that special of a free agent. As difficult as Duncan’s retirement will be for the Spurs both in terms of on-court play and pure sentimentality, the addition of Gasol certainly helps even if he doesn’t solve their Warriors’ problems, or even the Clippers if they're healthy in the playoffs.

The Spurs could have instead pursued a younger, more athletic big with upside to emerge to another level within their system, but they went with the safe plug and play option of Gasol. There will be a lot of beautiful basketball played on lonely nights in January, but San Antonio signing Gasol hours after Durant joins the Warriors is like bringing his beloved symphony to a rave.

Grade for Spurs: B- 

Gasol waited on Durant to make his decision despite competitive offers from promising teams like the Raptors and Blazers. Similar to the possibility of San Antonio adding a mobile center to contrast their existing piece, Gasol signing with the Raptors and Blazers would have been more interesting. The fit with the Blazers was particularly interesting because they have nobody like him at all on their roster.

Playing for Popovich was surely on Gasol’s basketball bucket list and he chose that blander option and at least he didn’t take an $11 million pay cut for a second round exit like David West admirably did. Gasol’s two-year, $30 million deal is a tremendous contract for a player who will one year soon show up for camp and no longer be playable physically.

Grade for Pau Gasol: B+