New Portland Trail Blazers center Pau Gasol says former teammate LaMarcus Aldridge has spoken very highly of Portland to him and even hinted he may want to potentially play there again someday, according to NBA reporter Sean Highkin.
The 34-year-old played his first nine seasons in Rip City before making his move to the San Antonio Spurs in free agency, where he has played his last four years.
Aldridge's move wasn't personal, but rather for basketball reasons. While he has done a whole lot of winning in his time with San Antonio, it hasn't been nearly as much as he originally expected, especially in the last two seasons.
The 6-foot-11 big man is back to putting up 20-and-10-type numbers with Kawhi Leonard mostly gone for the past couple of seasons, but he could look to put an end to his career in the place that was his home after draft night.
Aldridge inked a two-year, $50 million extension to remain in San Antonio in 2017, but he has only $6 million in guarantees for the 2020-21 season if he isn't waived by June 29, 2020. He also has a 15% trade kicker built in, which likely means a reunion with co-star Damian Lillard would likely have to wait until 2021, unless the Spurs are willing to shake out their roster — something they've never been known to do.
A reunion with Aldridge will likely be more sentimental than productive at this point, given he's already on the downslope of his tenure in the league. The Texas native is still a double-double threat on a nightly basis, but no longer the No. 1 option as he was before the Blazers drafted Lillard to play alongside him.
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