Seeking additional funds to do some shopping in the market, the Lakers have had their request to the league rejected regarding an old demon chasing them.
With only 12 players in their ranks right now, the Lakers and their front office still have some work to do before the next season begins. Despite the nice moves made with the arrivals of Dennis Schröder, Montrezl Harrell and Marc Gasol, as well as the re-signings of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Markieff Morris, their roster remains to be completed.
The problem is that the financial margin that remains at their disposal does not allow them to think big. They can therefore only offer minimum wage contracts, and hoped to find a way out of this restriction. One of them was passing by a request to the NBA to erase a former player’s salary, and the league has just returned its verdict.
The Los Angeles Lakers application to exclude Luol Deng’s salary from team salary books has been denied by the NBA, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Deng is owed salary through 2022.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 26, 2020
The Los Angeles Lakers’ request to exclude Luol Deng’s salary from their books was denied by the NBA. Deng will receive a salary until 2022.
The ghost of Luol Deng will therefore continue to haunt the finances of the Angelinos for another 2 years.
As a reminder, the Briton joined LA in 2016 by signing a contract at $ 72 million over 4 years, which he was never able to justify in the field. Quickly added to the unwanted list, he finally found an agreement with his leaders around a stretch provision, which allows him to always be paid by the Purple & Gold.
The claim of the Lakers had anyway very little chance of succeeding, given the nature of the reason given, namely an injury synonymous with end of career … non-existent. Rob Pelinka will therefore have to be content with the meager savings that the boxes still contain, and be just as inspired as since the start of free agency.
The Lakers undoubtedly had little hope of seeing the procedure they had initiated bear fruit, and will therefore continue to pay Luol Deng until 2022.
