Back in 2016 following the retirement of Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers gave huge contracts to veterans Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov in order to try and remain competitive. Those moves would completely backfire, however, as neither came close to living up to their deals and those contracts are now looked back upon negatively.
Deng was also not a fan of his time with the purple and gold and recently opened up about not wanting to leave the Miami Heat, but the Lakers ultimately offering him too much money to pass up.
“I wanted to stay in Miami, but Pat Riley kept it real,” Deng said on the Knuckleheads podcast. Pat just said, ‘I can’t pay you that much money. You gotta take that money.’ I looked at it like, ‘You know what, I might never ever get this opportunity again.’ But my conversation about going to L.A. was to go there to hoop. I had a mindset of now I’m getting paid. I wanted to make it happen, so I took the chance and I took the money. But what the plan was, was not what I was told.”
Deng’s numbers took a huge dip with the Lakers as he averaged just 7.6 points in his first season. He would then start the season opener the following season, but that was the only game he played as the Lakers wanted to focus on their young players, something that bothered Deng as he wanted to be able to play.
“That kind of changed how I looked at the league, my love for the game and so on,” he said. “I really mean it. I was getting all this money, but it didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel the same. What I mean by that is I wanted to play. I wanted to be a part of the team. I wanted a chance, but I was told, ‘We’re going in a different direction. I’m not dressing up’ and whatnot”
“I always tell people there were a lot of conversations where one month into it, it was like, ‘We’re only gonna play the young guys.’ A month into it, it was like, ‘We need you to get in shape, practice and so on.’ I would get in shape and practice, and then it would be a sit down like, ‘Oh, actually, we decided we’re gonna play the young guys.’ It just kept going”
“Two years in, the second year, I was like, ‘I never want to play here.’ I remember it was just like, ‘You’re gonna play. You’re not gonna play. You’re gonna play.’ My agent was trying, but you gave me so much money and now you’re not playing me. Why would anyone else take that contract. You got to let me play for people to see, but I was never allowed to play”
In fairness, the Lakers had built up an impressive young core of players with the likes of Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Julius Randle, Kyle Kuzma and others all trying to develop. But it is certainly understandable that Deng would have trouble just accepting not being able to play at all as he felt he could still contribute.
Ultimately, the Lakers would waive-and-stretch Deng following that second season and it just wasn’t a match between the two sides with a split being needed.
Former Laker Maxi Kleber potentially joining Luka Doncic’s European team
Veteran forward Maxi Kleber’s time with the Lakers is done and a return to Europe could be in play as Italian squad BC Roma, co-owned by Luka Doncic, could potentially be eyeing him.
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