Marc Gasol subtly hints that he may not be back with Lakers

Los Angeles Lakers center Marc Gasol hinted that he may not be back with the team next season.

Gasol, who signed a two-year deal with the Lakers last offseason, was grateful to have this season in Los Angeles even though the Lakers didn’t win the title.

“Obviously they have a lot of decisions to make and I’m not at the top of the list of those decisions,” Gasol said. “We’ll see later on this summer how the team moves and what they want to do, what the plan is. Right now, I think everything is so fresh. No one planned to be having those meetings right now. I don’t think they fully know what the plan is yet, so I think we all need that time to reflect.

“I’m very thankful for the year that I lived. I know obviously it didn’t end the way we all wanted, but it’s been better than it looked from the outside for me personally. I just enjoyed some of the things that happened, some of the other things I didn’t, but I tried to be positive and like I said, I’m thankful for the opportunity that I had here.”

Gasol appeared in 52 games for the Lakers during the regular season and averaged 5.0 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game.

He shot 45.4 percent from the field and 41.0 percent from 3, but he didn’t have as big of an impact as the Lakers had hoped he would when they signed him.

Gasol, whose brother Pau also played for the Lakers, explained that he was grateful for his teammates this year and that he is glad he enjoyed basketball again during the 2020-21 season.

“When you get to a certain age, you enjoy every moment that you get, especially coming from a year that weakened me before, which wasn’t fun at all,” Marc Gasol said. “Being in the bubble, there was a lot of basketball, but it was not fun. At least not personally fun for me. So I came into this year with the mindset of enjoying every second of it, soaking everything in, and understanding what an honor it is to wear this jersey.

“Obviously you guys know my family history with the team and how much it meant to Pau. So for me to be here and play for this team was an honor, and it is an honor. So I didn’t take it for granted for one second.”

It will be interesting to see how the Lakers proceed this offseason with the 36-year-old center still under contract for the 2021-22 campaign.