Goodbye Luol Deng: Luol Deng gives back $7.5M in buyout agreement with Lakers

[url]http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24547748/luol-deng-agrees-75m-give-back-contract-buyout-los-angeles-lakers[/url]

[QUOTE]Luol Deng agreed to a significant give-back of $7.5 million in his contract buyout with the Los Angeles Lakers, clearing $38 million in salary cap space for 2019 free agency, league sources told ESPN.[/QUOTE]

Great for the Lakers & he's most definitely off to Europe.

:applause:

Good move on facevalue, but there is 1 issue..

Deng will be on the books for next 3 years at $5mil due to waive and stretch provision.. Couldn't we have waited until next summer to try to find a trade partner for his expiring year salary?
Now we will be stuck with him at $5 mill next 3yrs starting next summer until summer of 2022... That's not good at all. We rushed it rather than try to trade his expiring year contract next summer.

I hope the salary cap goes up further to off-set the $5mill Deng will be on the books for until the end of 2021-22 season.

[QUOTE=bladefd]Good move on facevalue, but there is 1 issue..

Deng will be on the books for next 3 years at $5mil due to waive and stretch provision.. Couldn't we have waited until next summer to try to find a trade partner for his expiring year salary?
Now we will be stuck with him at $5 mill next 3yrs starting next summer until summer of 2022... That's not good at all. We rushed it rather than try to trade his expiring year contract next summer.

I hope the salary cap goes up further to off-set the $5mill Deng will be on the books for until the end of 2021-22 season.[/QUOTE]

First steps in building a contender is to have enough cap space to get 2 dominant players from free agency then surround them with 4-6 solid role players. Lakers were able to get Ingram, 3 really good sophomores and hopefully the current rookies will develop.
I don't think Magic and Rob can bear with the possibility of them not being able to find a team that will take Deng's contract.
I can't see any other teams really being desperate enough to absorb Deng's contract.
I see Thibs rather waiting for the Lakers to buy him out and so he can get him for cheap.
I really thought Luke could have found ways to use a versatile veteran defender like Deng but my theory is MGT asked him to do otherwise so Deng would eventually get frustrated and ultimately agree to a buyout.

[QUOTE=tamaraw08]First steps in building a contender is to have enough cap space to get 2 dominant players from free agency then surround them with 4-6 solid role players. Lakers were able to get Ingram, 3 really good sophomores and hopefully the current rookies will develop.
I don't think Magic and Rob can bear with the possibility of them not being able to find a team that will take Deng's contract.
I can't see any other teams really being desperate enough to absorb Deng's contract.[/QUOTE]

That's fair. Hopefully the $5 mill for next 3yrs after beyond next summer won't be an impediment.

Salary cap is expected to rise further so we should be okay:
[QUOTE]Among the most interesting numbers in the memo were the [B]projections for the 2019-20 cap, which is up to $109 million, and then 2020-21, which is up to $116 million.[/B] The minimum team salary for the 2018-19 season is $91.68 million.[/QUOTE]
So the $5mill should be offset by the increases in cap each season. Ultimately, it's better to get rid of Deng now than let him eat a roster slot for this and next year. If we can't move him then we become stuck with his $18mill for all of 2019-20 season.


I'm still enraged we signed this guy for so long at that price-tag. Horrendous. I would have been fine if it was 2 or 3yrs at $18mill, but idiots Jimmy Buss/Kupchak signed him for 4yrs at $18mill per year.. They were also bidding against themselves - no other team was rushing out there or involved in bidding war to sign Deng or Mozgov. :hammerhead: :hammerhead: One of the very few things in life that truly ticks me off is stupidity, and this falls in there. Thank goodness we got out of both deals..

What should we do with the open roster spot? I would like to see us give one of the top performers in the gleague a one year deal.

I think Anthony Bennett(former #1 overall pick could be a good fit). And Luke Kornet fits the bill for what we are needing as well.

Its now inevitable that the Lakers will sign a big name co-star to play alongside James in 2019

Yeah, Lakers have actually been really good at developing players the last few years. Josh Hart came out of the g league and he might be fighting for a starting roster spot very soon.

[QUOTE=$LakerGold][url]http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24547748/luol-deng-agrees-75m-give-back-contract-buyout-los-angeles-lakers[/url]



Great for the Lakers & [B]he's most definitely off to Europe[/B].[/QUOTE]
Spoke too soon. Thibs wanted his other leg.

Kobe Bryant contracts ended up being used to evaluate how Front Offices utilize their MLE