NBA Trade Rumors: Chicago 'Aggressively Shopping' Pau Gasol at Deadline; Lakers, Knicks Interested

Feb 18, 2016 02:03 AM EST

(Photo : Getty Images) Chicago Bulls' Pau Gasol (L) and Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant during the 2016 All-Star Game. The Bulls are reportedly “aggressively shopping” Gasol before the trade deadline and two of the rumored interested teams are his former team the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks.

The Chicago Bulls are "aggressively shopping" Pau Gasol before the trade deadline and two of the rumored interested teams are his former team the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks.

Yahoo Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski recently reported that the "Bulls are aggressively shopping All-Star forward Pau Gasol" according to his league sources.

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Wojnarowski cited Gasol's impending unrestricted free agency this summer as the reason why he is on the trading block as Bulls GM Gar Foreman would not like to lose the veteran Spanish big man for nothing during the offseason.

Fansided noted that while the Lakers are not "currently engaged with the Bulls publicly" in terms of trade rumors, a deal with the Bulls "would make sense" as Gasol would be willing to return to LA to play with long-time championship partner Kobe Bryant during the superstar's farewell tour.

And since the two-time NBA champions is already there, he could also provide leadership and guidance to the team's young crop of big men led by Julius Randle and Larry Nance Jr.

The Lakers could definitely choose to simply wait for the summer to arrive and just sign Gasol during free agency, but he will miss the chance of playing again with Bryant if that would be the case.

Meanwhile, the New York Post reported that the Knicks could also "lure" Gasol to play for them "even without" former teammate and ex-Knick head coach Derek Fisher. The report mentioned that Knicks president Phil Jackson, who is also close to the 7-foot Spaniard, could try to snag Gasol "to be the perfect mentor to Porzingis".

Jackson could offer Robin Lopez, who has been playing well as of late, in exchange for Gasol, although Chicago may ask for more than the 15th overall pick of the 2008 NBA draft.

At 35 years old, Gasol is still a highly productive player, averaging 17.0 points, 10.9 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 2.0 blocks in almost 32 minutes a night in 49 games this season for the Bulls.

TagsNBA Trade Rumors, Pau Gasol, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers, new york knicks