Report: Pau Gasol plans to opt out, renegotiate longer term deal with Spurs

Gasol was set to make $16.2M for the final year of his contract

There's being a team player, and then there's opting out of the final year of a contract that would pay you $16.2M in order to help your team have more flexibility. 

That, according to Adrian Wojnarowski, is what Pau Gasol is set to do for the San Antonio Spurs. 

Sources: Pau Gasol will decline his $16.2M option for 2017-18, but intends to work with Spurs on a longer term deal to remain with team.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 20, 2017

For the Spurs, this is a way to get salary cap relief on the 2017-18 roster. Gasol will return on a smaller annual salary. https://t.co/BNtilHNMAx

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) June 20, 2017

Now, this will help Gasol as well, as he's already 36 years old, and the longer term deal will give him job security at the end of his career. But there's no doubt he'll be costing himself some money with this decision. Perhaps it shouldn't be too surprising, however, as Gasol has always been a selfless player throughout his career. 

It will be interesting to see what the Spurs are able to finesse with the extra cap room they generate from this renegotiation, as they likely wouldn't ask Gasol to do this without some future moves in mind, and they have been linked to both Chris Paul and Kyle Lowry in recent months.