Philadelphia 76ers: Marc Gasol thankfully leaves Joel Embiid and the East

The Philadelphia 76ers just got a free agency gift.

When the Philadelphia 76ers signed Al Horford to a four-year contract worth up to $109 million, it caused many a fan in the City of Brotherly Love to scratch their heads.

The deal was too long, the money was too high, and it became generally accepted that he just didn’t fit on the court alongside Joel Embiid by minute two of the 2019-20 season.

But there was one defense that many clung to if for no other reason than to help justify Elton Brand’s head-scratcher of a move: His status as an Embiid buster.

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After watching Embiid struggle to score on Boston for the first three seasons of his NBA career, the idea of removing Horford from the Celtics was almost as exciting as adding a 3 point shooting power forward who could easily fill in as a starting five for 20ish games a year.

Again, it didn’t work out that way, but that was at least the idea.

However, there was a problem the Sixers didn’t quite account for when they added Horford to their roster: There are other Embiid busters in the NBA. Even before Horford came to town, Philly fans watched helplessly as Marc Gasol, one of the best centers in the game for a very long time, bullied up on the then-25-year-old, leading to a back-and-forth series in the Eastern Conference semi-finals that ended in the infamously heartbreaking ‘quadruple doink’.

Since being acquired at the 2019 NBA trade deadline, Gasol has faced off against the Sixers 10 times and held Embiid to an average of 13.8 points per game, a far cry from his 23.9 points per game career average. Gasol also holds the rare distinction of being the only center to hold Embiid to zero points in a full game of action, as everyone’s favorite Cameronian big man went 0-11 against the Raptors on November 25th, 2019.

But guess what? Those days are now long gone, except for two games a year and (basketball gods willing) maybe in the NBA Finals.

That’s right, after some mild speculation and a handful of suitors – including a return to his home country Spain – Gasol has officially signed a two-year deal to become the new starting center of the reigning world champion Los Angeles Lakers, pairing up with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and 2020 Sixth Man of the Year, Montrezl Harrell.

On a day where the Sixers traded Zhaire Smith to the Denver Pistons for Tony Bradley, this very well may be the best Philadelphia 76ers-related move since stealing Dwight Howard away from those pesky Lakers on Saturday.

With Gasol gone, the Raptors wasted little time and signed another foreign-born stretch five in Aron Baynes, the ex-Celtics big man who spent the 2019-20 season with the Vally Boyz in Pheonix. While it would be rude to outright dismiss Baynes as a bad player, as he did average 11.5 points and 5.6 rebounds a game as the Suns’ part-time starter, he’s hardly on par with Gasol, who will probably land in at least one Hall of Fame when his playing days are done.

Even if Gasol was the plan all along for Rob Pelinka and company, it’s fun to think that Daryl Morey’s decision to sign Howard to a one-year, vet minimum deal played some small part in removing an Embiid buster from the East potentially once and for all.

Next. Dwight Howard surprisingly reunites with Daryl Morey. dark

Regardless of where Marc Gasol plays basketball, it’s pretty safe to say Joel Embiid is, was, and remains the best center in the Eastern Conference, and maybe in the NBA in general. With that being said, it’s always nice to see a Philadelphia 76ers rival lose one of their best big man defenders in the lead up to the 2020-21 season, even if it could make a hypothetical Finals matchup all the more tricky. Between you and me, I feel much more comfortable having to face Tristan Thompson in a seven-game playoff series than Marc Gasol any day.