Bleacher Report recently named the five most regrettable contracts in the past five years. For the Los Angeles Lakers, they sadly made the list.
Despite turning things around the past few seasons, the Los Angeles Lakers made some big mistakes in free agency recently. Prior to Magic Johnson and Rob Pelinka taking over, the Lakers went on a spending spree in free agency. After missing out big stars, the Lakers ended up giving big contracts to Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov.
On Bleacher Report’s list, Mozgov was ranked as the fourth-most regrettable contract, but the Lakers were luckily able to get rid of him last offseason in a trade with the Brooklyn Nets. While the Mozgov contract wasn’t a good one, Deng’s is arguably worse.
Deng signed a four-year, $72 million deal with the Lakers in the summer of 2016, and quickly became a disappointment. After playing well for the Miami Heat for two seasons, Deng saw decreases across the board in his statistics.
Last season, despite making $18 million, Deng played in just one game for the Lakers. The situation surrounding Deng and the Lakers was certainly a strange one, as they could have used him at points last season when injuries hit the team hard.
On the list, Deng came in with the second-most regrettable contract in the past five years, as only Chandler Parsons was above him.
Considering Deng only played one game for the Lakers last season without being injured, it is not surprising to see him make this list. With a lot of new faces coming to the Lakers this season, it will be interesting to see if Deng is able to work his way into the rotation. At 33-years-old, Deng should have some game left in the tank. While he will not be able to be worth the $18 million he is making, he should be able to contribute.
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With two years left on his deal, Deng’s future with the Lakers is a very uncertain one. Trading him would be a very difficult thing for them to accomplish, as they would have to pair him with one of their talented young players. What is more likely next year is that the Lakers use the waive and stretch provision in order to free up more cap space for the 2019 offseason. Until then, Deng will continue to be one of the most regrettable contracts in the NBA.