Marc Gasol: Nothing Can Take Away From 2019 Raptors Team

Upon joining the Lakers, Marc Gasol expressed regret over the decline of the 2019 Toronto Raptors championship winning team.

Although they missed out last season, Marc Gasol said the Toronto team who ended the Warriors dynasty is special. “Nothing can take that away from us,” he said.

Marc Gasol admits it was ‘tough’ to leave his teammates, but the lure of the newly crowned champs was too much to turn down.

“And that’s just the way, sadly, this business goes.”

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“I thought my run in Toronto could not get better and we’d always be chasing the ring, that I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to be the player that they needed me to be there in order to win it. So I thought that the right thing to do for me was to join the Lakers and contribute to what they got going on.”

One man who doesn’t agree with Gasol’s assessment is Fred Van Vleet, who is determined to prove the doubters wrong all over again.

“I’m excited about what we’ve got,” VanVleet said.

“I think we’re kind of headed back in the direction of where we were pre-Kawhi where people are overlooking us again, which is not a bad place to be in.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do and we’ve got to get a lot better as individuals, and then we’ll go out there and see what we can do. I’m excited. I can’t wait to get back to work.”

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Gasol is a three time All-Star and was named Defensive Player of the Year in 2013. However, his averages of 7.5 points on 42.7% shooting, 6.3 rebonds and 3.3 assists per game last year are significantly down from his usual average of 14.6 points on 48.1% shooting.