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Grizzlies fans, stay in your seats. It appears very unlikely that Memphis will move its all-time leading scorer. According to Chris Manixx from Yahoo! Sports, Gasol does not appear to be headed elsewhere before the Feb. 8 trade deadline. But as expected, it is not a matter of if but where will Tyreke Evans be traded by next Thursday:
“Relax, Marc Gasol fans — it’s unlikely the Grizzlies’ franchise center is moved this week. Memphis has fielded offers for Gasol, but Grizz officials have been underwhelmed. Tyreke Evans has been shut down in anticipation of a trade, and there is an expectation that if Memphis can’t procure a first-round pick for Evans — difficult given Evans’ contract status — it will take the best offer on the table for Evans.”
Gasol has been mentioned in trade rumors all season long. It all started after Mike Conley suffered an Achilles injury 12 games into this season and the Grizzlies started to struggle badly. Reports surfaced about Gasol being unhappy with the team and more specifically with former head coach David Fizdale's decisions. It all peaked when Fizdale was fired; Gasol was blamed as the culprit of Fizdale's dismissal. Weeks followed with headlines claiming Gasol was unhappy with the team's direction and secretly asked for a trade.
During mid-December, Gasol told ESPN's Zach Lowe that he did not ask to be traded. However, if the team wanted to move on without him, he would be open to changing teams. Gasol said then, “If [the front office] think [trading him] is best, I would do anything for this franchise.”
However, as the season went on, the Gasol trade rumors started cooling off. Given the underwhelming returns Gasol would bring to the franchise, it appears as if a trade will be hard to come. However, if the NBA trade deadline period has taught fans anything over the years, anything can happen until 11:59 PM PST on Feb. 8.
