– Luol Deng gets traded
The next gift request for Santa might be a steep one for the Lakers. One of the glaring issues for the franchise is the contract situation of Luol Deng. This offseason, we saw the Lakers make it clear that they wanted to ride themselves of bad contracts. This resulted in Timofey Mozgov being traded to the Brooklyn Nets along with D’Angelo Russell.
Moving the former second overall pick was a steep price for the Lakers to get rid of Mozgov, but the move has turned out to be alright because the draft pick they acquired turned out to be Kyle Kuzma.
With Deng, the Lakers are going to have likely move another talented young player in order to get rid of a contract that is just as bad as Mozgov’s. Deng has been inactive for nearly the entire season, as his trade value is as low as it possibly could be after a bad season last year.
In order for the Lakers to truly have as much cap space as possible for next offseason, they have to find a way to get rid of Deng. The best option for the Lakers would be via a trade, but that is going to be difficult. If Santa does this for the Lakers, fans would be very grateful!