Tipoff - 7:00 p.m. ESTIf you haven't heard, the Lakers have just acquired Pau Gasol from the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for a vintage Garfield Happy Meal toy depicting the cartoon cat riding a skateboard and a tin of kippers (Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton and the Lakers' first round picks in the '08 and '09 drafts.). There's also curious speculation that the Lakers will include Pau's brother, Marc, in the deal. This would be unfortunate, as my buddy Mike pointed out, the two Gasol's on-court together would make a good GEICO caveman commercial.
It's impossible to believe that the Grizz couldn't have gotten more for Gasol. You've got to figure Colangelo would have shipped Bargnani, Rasho, Joey Graham and his picks over the next two years to instantly make the Raptors Eastern Conference contenders and take some pressure off of Chris Bosh.
True, Brown's $9.1 million contract expires at the end of this year, but Crittenton has showed nothing in his rookie year, albeit in 7.8 minutes per game, and the Lakers' picks are going to be insignificantly high over the next two years. Gasol will have to undergo physicals before the trade becomes official, but you've got to wonder if the Grizz know something more about the big man's back problems of late. And it is worth mentioning that Gasol played only 59 games last year and 56 games in 2004-05.
What makes this stink worse than Gasol's gym bag is that Jerry West, the current interim GM of the Grizzlies, has publicly said that he will return to the Lakers as a consultant next year.
Luckily for the Raptors Gasol, who has three years left on his $49-million contract, will not be dressed tonight.
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EDIT: The official trade: Pau Gasol to the Lakers for Kwame Brown, Javaris Crittenton, Aaron McKie, the Lakers' first round picks in 2008 and 2010, cash considerations and the rights to Pau's brother Marc - the first time in league history that brothers were included in a trade for one another.
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