ALMOST all NBA followers know of the player who doesn’t play yet he gets an annual take home pay of $18 million – yep, that insane amount of money for sitting on a couch in front of a huge TV and practically doing anything else except playing basketball.
Entering his second year of inactivity despite being healthy and fit also gets on his nerves that he wants to be someplace else where he said his talents and services will be appreciated. He is understandably upset of the situation.
Loul Deng came into the Lakers on a four-year, $72-million deal. The contract is one of league’s worst where gigantic amounts of money were given to players past their primes. The past season, he only played on the opening game but was benched for the next 81 games. Clearly, he’s not part of LA’s plans for the future.
Because of the Lakers’ costly mistake, no team would deal with the Lakers unless they part with at least one of their young cores in a package with Deng. But since the amount due him for the 2018-2019 season was already accounted for, the remaining year of his contract can now be stretched up to 2021 through the stretch provision. This gives the team some flexibility in their chase for free agent talents next season.
But Deng wants to play, not just receive his pay. He doesn’t deserve to be treated this way. Prior to coming to LA, the now 33-year-old was a two-time All-Star, an All-Rookie selection and received an All-Defensive selection. In his prime he flirted with 20 points and averaged 30 minutes a game. As per reports, he is a positive influence inside the locker room. And he wants to contribute.
“I want to play. I want to be a part of something. But I’m not going to be a part of a place where you don’t believe in me. I’m not trying to knock down anybody but … I play for people who believe in me,” says Deng. For the moment, it looks hard to find people who still believe in his capabilities.
Because they’re still paying him millions, maybe the least the Lakers could do is give him some playing time. In the recent NBA Africa games, Deng had shown that he can still play, and with the new veteran additions on the team, they could be the steadying and guiding influence to the younger players.
Coming together with Deng to the Lakers was Timofey Mozgov from Cleveland in another bad deal. Los Angeles paid him $64 million for averaging 6.3 points with Cleveland. That’s way too much money for 6.3 points per game. At least they got rid of him but also sacrificed D’Angelo Russell.
Meanwhile it’s never a bad idea for anyone to receive $18 million a year without breaking a sweat./PN
