Amidst a lost season for the Los Angeles Lakers where they have lost 50 games and will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2005, the team may have witnessed Pau Gasol play his last game in a Lakers jersey.
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Gasol has been dealing with vertigo, and according to the Los Angeles Times, the team is thinking of sitting him for the last seven games of the season as he continues to bout the ailment.
The Lakers (25-50) will play the Dallas Mavericks Friday without Gasol, and the team may just continue to play out their schedule without him. Gasol missed his fifth game on Wednesday when the team lost 107-102 to the Sacramento Kings.
Gasol, 33, leads the injury-riddled Lakers with 17.4 points per game but he may leave the team through free agency after having several arguments with coach Mike D'Antoni over the course of the season about his role in the team's offense.
Gasol also missed seven games in February because of a sprained groin and was sidelined for three games in December due to a respiratory infection.
Gasol returned to action for the first time since suffering vertigo on Tuesday against the Portland Trailblazers and put up nine points while adding four rebounds in a 124-112 loss where he endured lingering effects of his ailment.
Gasol makes $19.3 million and will likely take a pay cut wherever he ends up. The power forward said that he believed he may have returned too quickly from the injury on Tuesday.
According to the report, he flew to Sacramento with the team after the game and while he felt fine during morning practice, he suffered a set-back when he was doing doctor-prescribed exercises in the afternoon, keeping him from playing in the game.
Gasol never made it to the arena Wednesday night and won't play on Friday as it's quite possible that he has played his final game as a member of the Lakers.
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