Chicago Bulls center Pau Gasol reportedly informed the franchise Monday that he will decline the player option in his contract for the 2016-17 season and enter free agency.
Marc Stein of ESPN.com first reported the news and K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune confirmed it.
Gasol has been one of the NBA's most reliable frontcourt players for more than a decade, spending time with the Bulls, Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Lakers. He's coming off another rock-solid campaign in 2015-16, having averaged 16.5 points and 11.0 rebounds across 72 games with Chicago.
The 35-year-old Spanish big man battled a knee injury during the stretch run of the regular season. In late March, he told Vincent Goodwill of CSN Chicago that the heavy workload while Chicago fought for a postseason berth likely played a role in his health issues.
"Couldn't bend my knee to a certain degree. Then it pinched," Gasol said. "That was a big part of it. Now the pounding of play with the fluid and the games and the schedule and the minutes, I don't know. A little bit of everything I guess. ...
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Article written by Tim Daniels