One of the Lakers’ most weighty contracts and awkward locker room situations is coming to an end.
According to a report by the Athletic, the team is finalizing a buyout of forward Luol Deng under the waive-and-stretch provision of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The deal will allow the 33-year-old to enter free agency and end a Lakers tenure that never got off on the right foot, while giving the Lakers a chance at a max free agent next summer to be a potential running mate with LeBron James.
Waiving Deng will still cost the Lakers an estimated $18 million against the salary cap for the upcoming season, but they’ll be able to spread out the remaining $18 million owed for the last season of the deal (2019-20) over up to three years. It also opens up the possibility that Deng could earn a new contract elsewhere, which could help offset the amount the Lakers owe him.
Deng was one of the Lakers’ dubious legacies from a spending whirlwind in the 2016 offseason, and the former Bulls, Cavaliers and Heat forward never produced as hoped in Los Angeles after signing a four-year, $72 million deal. He averaged just 7.5 points per game in 57 total contests, playing only once last season as the Lakers sought minutes for a young core under a new front office regime.
By the second year of his deal, all parties seemed unhappy, with team president Magic Johnson joking that he wished he could’ve dealt Deng at the February trade deadline. Deng spoke as recently as August about his desire to play for a new team.
Aside from clearing future salary cap space, which the Lakers need for a wide-open free agency market in the summer of 2019, erasing Deng from the roster also clears some extra space from the team’s large group of wings and forwards.
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