The Los Angeles Lakers have very few avenues to get rid of Timofey Mozgov and his unreal $65 million contract. Here is a trade so crazy it might just work.
Who saw this coming except for literally everyone? Let’s recap:
- The Lakers went into free agency with an upwards of $60 million to spend on free agents.
- Apparently, players around the NBA weren’t thrilled with the idea of playing under Byron Scott so the Lakers failed to land meetings with the big name free agents.
- Instead of signing mid-tier free agents to large, short-term contracts, the front office threw money at “big name, small game” free agents to avoid the embarrassment of striking out in free agency yet again.
The result? A four-year, $72 million contract for 31-year-old Luol Deng and a four-year, $65 million contract for Timofey Mozgov, who hasn’t averaged more than 10 points per game in his six-year NBA career. Oy vey.
Deng’s contract sucks, but he can still play meaningful minutes for a contending team as long as it’s not for more than four minutes at a time. His value also goes beyond the basketball court, providing veteran leadership for the Lakers’ young core. He knew what he was in for when he signed and he has been an absolute professional since day one.
“I totally understand what we’re doing,” Deng told Southern California News Group after the Lakers’ loss the Utah Jazz on Dec. 27. “He wants the guys to be in situations where they learn and play minutes. It’s always about what we’re trying to do. Why am I going to be on the bench if I’m not playing?”
Mozgov didn’t take the news as well, initially at least, and it’s hard to imagine much has changed since Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times spoke to the Russian big man.
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
Is Mozgov going to march into Magic Johnson’s office and demand a trade? One can dream, but the likelihood of that happening is extremely slim. Even if he did demand a trade, it would be incredibly hard for the front office to find a team willing to take on the colossal contract without some sort of compensation.
A team willing to trade Mozgov would have to be a team with absolutely no clear plan going forward and a history of making bad trades. Sacramento fits the bill, but they’ve made their bad trade for the year. The Knicks are also a perfect match, but they already have an overpaid center on their books. That leaves one team, and boy is it a good one.
The Trade
So stop me if you’ve heard this one before, but the Brooklyn Nets don’t have their own first-round pick in the upcoming draft because of their 2013 blockbuster trade with the Boston Celtics that sent future Hall of Famers Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett and Jason Terry to the Nets for a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and three future first round picks.
For those keeping track, Paul Pierce plays for the Clippers, Kevin Garnett spends his nights tightly gripping a basketball on TNT’s “Area 21” and 39-year-old Jason Terry is somehow still on an NBA team. While all three players are NBA champions, none of them earned their silverware in Brooklyn.
Meanwhile, the Celtics are a few wins away from clinching the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference, putting them in a great position to upset the Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs. At the basement of the Eastern Conference? The Nets, with a lowly 11-53 record. In other words, things didn’t exactly pan out for Brooklyn.
With the exception of Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who plays like someone that spent all their VC on defensive attributes in MyCareer, and Caris LaVert, who looks more like a baby Jamal Crawford every game, the Nets don’t have a lot to look forward to. They don’t have rights to their own first-rounder until 2019 and no one is knocking down Sean Mark’s door to play with Jemery Lin and Brook Lopez.
It’s time for the Nets to hit the reset button and trading their star center Brook Lopez would be a good first step.
The Nets tried to unload Lopez before this past trade deadline, initially asking for two first-rounders for the 28-year-old center. However, to no one’s surprise, teams were unwilling to give up two first round picks for an injury prone big man that struggles with grabbing rebounds.
Just days before the Feb. 23 trade deadline, ESPN’s Marc Stein reported that the Nets had lowered their asking price for Lopez and “would accept a first and a second.” The trade deadline came and went and Lopez still resides in Brooklyn.
Since then, his value has plummeted and it has nothing to do with his ability on the court. In fact, Lopez is one of three players averaging at least 17 points per game while playing 30 minutes or less per game since the All-Star break. The others? Kevin Durant and Victor Oladipo.
Lopez also joins Anthony Davis, Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokuonmpo as the only players averaging at least 20 points and 1.8 blocks per game. It’s not Lopez who has lost value, it’s his contract.
He signed a three-year $64 million contract in 2015 that expires at the end of the 2017-18 season, meaning teams willing to give up assets for him this summer will only get him for a few months. Lopez hits unrestricted free agency in 2018 when the Nets will be without their own first-rounder yet again. Brooklyn might have to lower their asking price a little more if they want to get something for Lopez.
Would the Nets take Timofey Mozgov, who is signed through the 2019-20 season, and a late-first round pick in an extremely deep draft? I don’t see why they wouldn’t.
As bad as Mozgov’s contract is, it’s still roughly $6 million less than what they were going to pay Lopez next season. He’s not going to put up 20 points a game, nor is he the defensive stalwart he used to be, but Mozgov doesn’t need the ball to be productive. If Lin, LaVert and RHJ wanted to get their shots up, they would finally be able to do that.
And what’s a bad contract to a rebuilding team anyway? Do the Nets really need financial flexibility to sign Chris Paul and Blake Griffin to make the Brooklyn Clippers? Would Gordon Hayward leave Utah for an opportunity to play under head coach Kenny Atkinson? Is Kyle Lowry tired of sharing the backcourt with Maple Leaf Mamba, DeMar DeRozan, in Toronto? Doubtful.
Without a sizable contract like Mozgov’s on their books, the Nets will struggle to reach the salary floor. Would they prefer an expiring contract and a first-round pick? Sure, but so would 29 other teams. Brooklyn is no longer in a position to be picky and this offer is far from the minimum they can get.
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With this move, the Nets would add another pick in the upcoming draft, giving them three total first-round picks. All three picks are projected to be in the mid-to-late 20s, with Boston’s pick ironically being the lowest of the three. Equipped with three first rounders, the Nets would have an opportunity move up in the draft where they could draft a potential franchise-changing talent.
As for the Lakers, the move is essentially spelled out in purple and gold. Not only would get rid themselves of Mozgov’s atrocious contract, but they would also acquire an above average starting center to place alongside Julius Randle.
Randle and Lopez would mask each other’s deficiencies well. Lopez is among the top 10 in blocks per game this season, something that Randle doesn’t do well because of his size and his below-average wingspan. However, Brook Lopez’s 5.1 rebounds per game are the worst by any center that has started more than 50 games this season. Randle, on the other hand, is an absolute monster on the boards. Pairing the two together would give L.A. one of the more dynamic frontcourts in the Western Conference.
Will passing up an opportunity to draft another late-first round steal sting a little bit? Yes, but not as much it will sting when Mozgov’s contract gets in the way of the Lakers signing the like of Paul George and DeMarcus Cousins in 2018. Mozgov needs to go and Brooklyn is the place for him.
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But what do you guys think? If a trade like this becomes available, should the Lakers pull the trigger? Do you have any other trade proposals for the big Russian? Let us know in the comments below!
All stats are accurate as of Mar. 13, 2017 per stats.nba.com and basketball-refernce.com. For the latest on the Purple and Gold, make sure to follow @TheLakeShowLife on Twitter.