Luol Deng Wants To Play, Seeks Clarity From Lakers

[dautjazz]

I like his attitude, but reality is, he's unmovable with his contract. He's OBVIOUSLY not going to take minutes from James, Kuzma or Ingram. Like others said, if you're willing to part with TONS of money for a buyout, then by all means, but he's going to struggle to find a team that wants to give him a large role. He's simply not that good anymore.

[QBoro KnicksFan]

It comes with the territory IMO. If you sign massive contracts like this and stink you aren't going to be tradable and the GM that gave it to you and was invested in you is probably going to lose his job. This certainly isn't the first time this has ever happened so you know what you are getting yourself into. He has no excuse to be annoyed.

He has every reason to be annoyed. He's a 10 year veteran and a former all-star. Yes he's not the player that he once was, and he played poorly his first year with the Lakers, but he's healthy and wants to play.

As you said above this has happened before. In most cases those players were disruptive to their team. Deng is not. He's been professional and is only speaking out about this now (the offseason). Sure he might continue to sit on the bench (the Lakers aren't obligated to play him) but he has every right to vent. Even his comments above aren't that bad when you consider the situation he's in.

he can EASILY negotiate a buy-out or shortened deal to go play elsewhere. Speaking publicly while under contract for two more years at that high of a number is a low life move.

You're a lowlife, a$$hole

[The_Hater]

It's really disgraceful the way the Lakers have treated Luol Deng. He's a very solid player and a stand up guy. Shame on that organization. Players around the league pay attention when an organization treats a player like crap.

It's no wonder LA can NEVER sign marquee free agents despite being one of the biggest markets in the league. Aside from Lebron who was the last big time free agent LA signed? I can't think of a single one.

Let’s not put ‘solid’ and ‘Loul Deng’ in the same sentence please. It’s not still 2013, the last time we saw Deng on the court he was awful (47% TS% and 10.1 PER in 26 mpg) and that isn’t going to magically improve with age.

If he was actually ‘solid’ then another team would trade for his services wouldn’t they? Plus I’ve never in my life seen an employee getting paid $16 million every 12 months be so hard done by. If he’s truly unhappy with his treatment and his compensation he could ask them to rip up his contract and leave. The Lakers would gladly do that. But hes obviously not being treated all that badly since he hasn’t (and won’t) walk away from his contract.

See all the holes in your theory now?

[colaroaster]

maybe text kwahi and ask what he'd do?

[Dan Z]

It's really disgraceful the way the Lakers have treated Luol Deng. He's a very solid player and a stand up guy. Shame on that organization. Players around the league pay attention when an organization treats a player like crap.

It's no wonder LA can NEVER sign marquee free agents despite being one of the biggest markets in the league. Aside from Lebron who was the last big time free agent LA signed? I can't think of a single one.

He's a bum on an enormous contract. If he wants to go get burn somewhere the path is obvious: negotiate a reasonable buyout and move on with your life. If the lakers are content with paying him to sit on their bench instead of paying him the same amount to play for someone else, who in their right mind could blame them? Moz was the worse signing, but at least moz has the decency not to pretend he's not an albatross.

I don't know if Mozgov was healthy last year, but he played 31 games last year.

Deng played one (13 minutes) and was healthy all year.

[Dan Z]

If you read the wiretap article Deng says that he wants clarity from the Lakers. I think anyone in his situation would want the same. The Lakers should sit down with him and tell him what the plan is.

[ChokeFasncists]

maybe text kwahi and ask what he'd do?

Better yet, dump his agent and sign with the uncle.

[dan-man]

Ask the lakers for a 10 mil buy-out. Done. Quit bitching.

[dan-man]

He has every reason to be annoyed. He's a 10 year veteran and a former all-star. Yes he's not the player that he once was, and he played poorly his first year with the Lakers, but he's healthy and wants to play.

As you said above this has happened before. In most cases those players were disruptive to their team. Deng is not. He's been professional and is only speaking out about this now (the offseason). Sure he might continue to sit on the bench (the Lakers aren't obligated to play him) but he has every right to vent. Even his comments above aren't that bad when you consider the situation he's in.

he can EASILY negotiate a buy-out or shortened deal to go play elsewhere. Speaking publicly while under contract for two more years at that high of a number is a low life move.

You're a lowlife, a$$hole

Because I just bitch slapped you with some facts? OK...

[anatomicbomb]

I think he has a chance to play this year

As a small ball pf or as a dwarf 5

His potential switchabilty would be nice.

If he was making 4 mil a year it would be fine. If he was making the vet min like nba2k thinks he should, it would be even better

And he's always been a smart team player who gels with ball-dominant stars, so I can totally see and him and Beas filling in the vacuums that LeBron creates as he dribble around. Good guy for the young players to learn a bit from, but I guess whether he plays depends on if they're trying to win it all this year

[cavs4872]

So they are a contender (or at least a playoff team) and still can't find PT for this guy? One of the best two-way players of the last 10 years.

Well, he is kinda **** because they have the best player in the game and a really promising young kid who play the same position as him, but some team could really use him, like Houston off the top of my head, heck, even back in Cleveland.

[Vegeta10176]

he can EASILY negotiate a buy-out or shortened deal to go play elsewhere. Speaking publicly while under contract for two more years at that high of a number is a low life move.

You're a lowlife, a$$hole

Because I just bitch slapped you with some facts? OK...

Facts your giving an opinion.. He is not getting to play when he wants to he can speak out publicly and he ain't ganna get bought out for what they owe him dont be stupid..

[dan-man]

You're a lowlife, a$$hole

Because I just bitch slapped you with some facts? OK...

Facts your giving an opinion.. He is not getting to play when he wants to he can speak out publicly and he ain't ganna get bought out for what they owe him dont be stupid..

No $hit, but thats his call. So cash the checks and shut the fu*ck up or agree to a lower buy-out and go play if thats more important to you. Its pretty simple.

[tigerae]

Because I just bitch slapped you with some facts? OK...

Facts your giving an opinion.. He is not getting to play when he wants to he can speak out publicly and he ain't ganna get bought out for what they owe him dont be stupid..

No $hit, but thats his call. So cash the checks and shut the fu*ck up or agree to a lower buy-out and go play if thats more important to you. Its pretty simple.

I don't agree with the contract they signed him to, but a lot of teams made that mistake (see Ryan Anderson, Jokim Noah, etc.). It's not on him for the contract they signed him to and I'm sure when he signed, he was told he would be a part of the teams future. He had plenty of offers at the time, but chose the Lakers because of what they told him.

He may very well still be able to play and can help some teams out there.

The issue I think he has is Magic and the rest of the organization talking about him like he is some old ass player that took advantage of them which isn't the case for one and isn't professional. Magic and the rest need to keep their mouths shut when it comes to their players, especially when they try to talk bad about them.

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[QBoro KnicksFan]

he can EASILY negotiate a buy-out or shortened deal to go play elsewhere. Speaking publicly while under contract for two more years at that high of a number is a low life move.

You're a lowlife, a$$hole

Because I just bitch slapped you with some facts? OK...

No cause your bitch ass conflating fact with opinion, you fkin d*ckhead douche bag kill yaself

[Dan Z]

Facts your giving an opinion.. He is not getting to play when he wants to he can speak out publicly and he ain't ganna get bought out for what they owe him dont be stupid..

No $hit, but thats his call. So cash the checks and shut the fu*ck up or agree to a lower buy-out and go play if thats more important to you. Its pretty simple.

I don't agree with the contract they signed him to, but a lot of teams made that mistake (see Ryan Anderson, Jokim Noah, etc.). It's not on him for the contract they signed him to and I'm sure when he signed, he was told he would be a part of the teams future. He had plenty of offers at the time, but chose the Lakers because of what they told him.

He may very well still be able to play and can help some teams out there.

The issue I think he has is Magic and the rest of the organization talking about him like he is some old ass player that took advantage of them which isn't the case for one and isn't professional. Magic and the rest need to keep their mouths shut when it comes to their players, especially when they try to talk bad about them.

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I thought I'd share this just in case anyone here hasn't seen it.

Watch on YouTube

[dan-man]

Facts your giving an opinion.. He is not getting to play when he wants to he can speak out publicly and he ain't ganna get bought out for what they owe him dont be stupid..

No $hit, but thats his call. So cash the checks and shut the fu*ck up or agree to a lower buy-out and go play if thats more important to you. Its pretty simple.

I don't agree with the contract they signed him to, but a lot of teams made that mistake (see Ryan Anderson, Jokim Noah, etc.). It's not on him for the contract they signed him to and I'm sure when he signed, he was told he would be a part of the teams future. He had plenty of offers at the time, but chose the Lakers because of what they told him.

He may very well still be able to play and can help some teams out there.

The issue I think he has is Magic and the rest of the organization talking about him like he is some old ass player that took advantage of them which isn't the case for one and isn't professional. Magic and the rest need to keep their mouths shut when it comes to their players, especially when they try to talk bad about them.

Sent from my SM-G935T using RealGM mobile app

Again, regardless of his expectations that haven't been met, he has all the power to confirm a buy-out within 60 minutes 24/7. He can take less money to pursue playing time or wait another season before he's actually tradable as an expiring deal. What part of that doesn't make sense to you?

[dan-man]

You're a lowlife, a$$hole

Because I just bitch slapped you with some facts? OK...

No cause your bitch ass conflating fact with opinion, you fkin d*ckhead douche bag kill yaself

Dramatic and illiterate - lethal. Are you some wanna be gangsta rapper or something?

[dan-man]

I like his attitude, but reality is, he's unmovable with his contract. He's OBVIOUSLY not going to take minutes from James, Kuzma or Ingram. Like others said, if you're willing to part with TONS of money for a buyout, then by all means, but he's going to struggle to find a team that wants to give him a large role. He's simply not that good anymore.

At this point for the Lakers ( who clearly don't want him ) I think they gotta wait until next summer when he'll have some value since his deal will be expiring, if the Lakers are able to package him with some asset or take in salary from somewhere else. I think they will have better clarity on the Kuzma, Lonzo, Heart situation and will package off one of them, since when those rookie deals expire they won't be able to keep everyone. They should at least get some form of trade value, which they choked on w/Randle.

[dan-man]

If you read the wiretap article Deng says that he wants clarity from the Lakers. I think anyone in his situation would want the same. The Lakers should sit down with him and tell him what the plan is.

You don't have to be a genius to have clarity here. They are stuck w/you and your overpaid contract. They will do their best to trade your sorry contract at the first possible moment. In the meantime, shut your hole and cash those checks OR let us buy you out for a much more modest number that is closer to your true market rate of about ~5 mil a season, if that. Ask your agent or dog walker if you don't have the self awareness Or meet with Magic. He will tell you straight up.