Despite how their roster has performed this season, there is something to be said about the Los Angeles Lakers’ signings during the offseason. After trading for Russell Westbrook in the offseason, the Lakers had three max contracts in their salary cap and had to sign a full roster around those players.
As a result, the Lakers signed a lot of older players on veteran’s minimum contracts, including Dwight Howard, DeAndre Jordan, Trevor Ariza, and Kent Bazemore. On top of that, they signed young and promising stars Kendrick Nunn and Malik Monk to team-friendly deals. These contracts showed the savvy of the Lakers’ front office.
But that wasn’t the case a few years ago. In 2018, the Los Angeles Lakers bought Luol Deng out of his massive contract, with an agreement that they would accommodate his salary over the years so that they could sign a max superstar (which turned out to be LeBron James) in that year’s offseason.
And that has proven to be a bit of a detriment to their salary cap. In fact, Luol Deng is set to make $10 million from the Los Angeles Lakers this season, despite retiring from the NBA in 2019. In fact, he is making more money than players like Dwight Howard, DeAndre Jordan, Trevor Ariza, Malik Monk, and Kent Bazemore, and only their collective salary is slightly more than Deng’s payout this year.
The Lakers’ continuing to pay out Luol Deng’s salary has been a massive detriment to their team building over the years. While it hasn’t restrained them in terms of attracting superstars and offering them the salary they want, it has impacted how they approach the surrounding pieces for their stars.
The Lakers front office will undoubtedly be looking forward to the day Deng’s salary is no longer part of their cap constraints, as it will allow for them to spend a little more money on their roster in the future.
