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Lakers Nation > Blog > Lakers News > Lakers News: Timofey Mozgov Needs Time To Process Benching
Lakers News

Lakers News: Timofey Mozgov Needs Time To Process Benching

Trevor Lane
Published: 02/07/2017
3 Min Read
Lakers Nation Podcast: Breaking Down Loss To Mavs, Luke Walton’s Rotation
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
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It’s not easy for professional athletes to deal with a demotion, as veteran center Timofey Mozgov found out on Monday night.

Mozgov was removed from the Los Angeles Lakers starting lineup before Monday’s game against the New York Knicks as part of head coach Luke Walton’s push to give more minutes to the team’s younger players. The 30-year-old Mozgov was replaced by 25-year-old Tarik Black and 31-year-old small forward Luol Deng was replaced by 19-year-old Brandon Ingram.

Deng still played 24 minutes, however, while Mozgov found himself out of the rotation completely as the backup center minutes went to rookie big man Ivica Zubac. After the game, Mozgov was attempting to come to grips with his demotion, via Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times:

I caught Timofey Mozgov before he left the arena. He asked for time to process his benching. pic.twitter.com/22DswrLUag

— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) February 7, 2017

No one would expect Mozgov to be pleased with such a drastic move, but from the Lakers’ perspective, it’s an understandable decision. With the playoffs almost certainly out of reach, it makes sense for Los Angeles to focus on building for the future, and that means giving as many minutes as possible to their young talent.

With the surprising development of Zubac, the Lakers now have something of a minutes crunch in the middle, with Black, Zubac, and Mozgov all capable of playing minutes at the center position. Additionally, Walton does occasionally go small with either Julius Randle or Larry Nance Jr. sliding down, which makes minutes that much more scarce.

Complicating matters, the Lakers gave Mozgov a surprisingly large contract worth $64 million over four years this past summer. That’s a lot of money to have glued to the bench just one year into the deal, and the contract is so massive that it’s also unlikely any team in the league would be willing to trade for Mozgov. This will be a situation worthy monitoring over the next few weeks as Walton’s new rotation gets settled.

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TAGGED:Los Angeles LakersTimofey Mozgov
ByTrevor Lane
Trevor Lane is a longtime NBA and Los Angeles Lakers fan who had the good fortune to grow up during the glory days of the Showtime Lakers, when Magic Johnson, Kareem-Abdul-Jabbar, James Worthy, and the rest ruled the Great Western Forum. He has written about basketball, soccer, fantasy sports, MMA, and even pro wrestling over the course of his career, but the spectacle that is the Lakers is his true passion. He made the leap into podcasting for Lakers Nation and provides voice-over analysis for our YouTube channel. With a who's who of stars gracing the Lakers lineup over the years, including Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Shaquille O'Neal, Pau Gasol, and many others, the Lakers always provide plenty to talk about. When he isn't writing or recording, Trevor can be found spending time with his wife and daughter or on the sidelines for one of the youth teams he coaches. Outside of the Lakers, Trevor is a supporter of the LA Galaxy, US Soccer, Dallas Cowboys, and Los Angeles Dodgers. Contact: trevor@mediumlargela.com
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