Luol Deng bought out

[Roy H.]

Veteran forward Luol Deng and the Los Angeles Lakers have reached an agreement on a buyout, league sources told ESPN.

Los Angeles was projecting to have $25 million in salary-cap space for the 2019-20 season. That number will increase to the $36 million to $38 million range once the Deng buyout is completed, giving the Lakers room for another max-contract player next summer.

Deng will enter free agency and command interest from several contenders, sources said.

[SparzWizard]

Kevin Durant to the Lakers next year?

[nickagneta]

Kevin Durant to the Lakers next year?

Or Kawhi Leonard, or Jimmy Butler, or ....anyone but Kyrie Irving.

[nickagneta]

Kevin Durant to the Lakers next year?

Or Kawhi Leonard, or Jimmy Butler, or ....anyone but Kyrie Irving.

[hpantazo]

As long as they don't land Anthony Davis, we're fine.

[BitterJim]

Looks like they stretched him. That probably means they'll have something like $7.2 million of dead money for 5 years (if it includes the next 2 years, $5.2 million for 3 years if the stretch doesn't involve this season). That's a lot of dead money to have, and for a long time. I think they would have been better off trying to trade him+a pick into cap space next off season, with a worst case scenario of stretching him

[celticsclay]

I will find it humorous if he goes somewhere else and is productive

[SHAQATTACK]

I will find it humorous if he goes somewhere else and is productive

i thought the same .   The Lakers fan treated him worse than Brandon Bass

[Smartacus]

I'd imagine Minnesota would be the early favorite. With all the Jimmy Butler rumors they might be able to talk themselves into letting Luol act as the veteran forward providing the steady hand if JB were to leave.

I'm more of the mindset that he was never given a chance on a tanking LA team than that he is cooked. Wonder if Thibbs feels the same?

[Csfan1984]

Can teams trade dead money/contract?

[BitterJim]

Can teams trade dead money/contract?

No. There's no way to clear dead money (unlike contracts, rights to players, etc.)

[liam]

If Deng can still play The Rockets would be a perfect landing spot.

[rondofan1255]

ESPN reporting with @ramonashelburne: In buyout with Lakers, Luol Deng walked away from $7.5M on the $36.8M left on his contract. With waive and stretch provision, Lakers have cleared $38M in salary cap space in 2019 free agency.

https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1035965555507978240?s=21

[csfansince60s]

Looks like they stretched him. That probably means they'll have something like $7.2 million of dead money for 5 years (if it includes the next 2 years, $5.2 million for 3 years if the stretch doesn't involve this season). That's a lot of dead money to have, and for a long time. I think they would have been better off trying to trade him+a pick into cap space next off season, with a worst case scenario of stretching him

TP for being very close:

Keith Smith
✔
@KeithSmithNBA
Because the Lakers waited until 9/1 (or later), they will have this season's full salary of $18M for Luol Deng as dead money on the books.

LA will then have $6.27M on the books for 2019-20 through 2021-22 as dead money on the books as part of the stretch provision.

/quote]


That's a big hit!

[hpantazo]

Looks like they stretched him. That probably means they'll have something like $7.2 million of dead money for 5 years (if it includes the next 2 years, $5.2 million for 3 years if the stretch doesn't involve this season). That's a lot of dead money to have, and for a long time. I think they would have been better off trying to trade him+a pick into cap space next off season, with a worst case scenario of stretching him

If they were going to end up having his full salary on their books this season, why did they waive him now? They should have done it before, or waited until the end of the season.