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The Atlanta Hawks have made an "aggressive, late pitch" to Lakers free agent center Pau Gasol, reports Adrian Wojnarowski.
The offending tweet:
Atlanta making aggressive, late pitch for Pau Gasol, league sources tell Yahoo. $11M-plus a year, sources say. Gasol likely passes on offer.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) July 12, 2014
This would be an amazing fit, as we wrote earlier, however, the excitement of seeing the Hawks tethered to a real rumor on this day of rumors and agreements, is tempered by the last line of Woj's tweet.
Pau has been rumored to be leaning to be staying out west, with San Antonio, Oklahoma City and the rest.
The cost of the proposed deal, 11M/year, isn't out of line for a big of Gasol's skills. Gasol has slipped in recent years, but is still quite productive, relative to the rest of the league.
And when you look at the money that Jordan Hill (9M/yr), Channing Frye (8M/yr) and even Chris Kaman (5M/yr), then you can see where Gasol would still be worth that kind of paycheck.
Gasol also would give the Hawks some defensive rebounding with his still elite offense and fit with Budenholzer's system.
MORE:
Prior to today, LAL offered Pau Gasol two deals: 2 years, $23 mill and 3 years, $29 mill per league source. He turned down both offers.
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) July 12, 2014
We'll stay close to the deal as it progresses.