When The Los Angeles Lakers Paid $17 Million To A Player For Just One Appearance
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The 2016 NBA Free Agency was one of the most infamous ones in recent history. While it was marked by Kevin Durant moving to the Golden State Warriors, it included a lot of mediocre free agents getting big-money deals. Teams like the Los Angeles Lakers and the Orlando Magic went berserk and just threw around money.
After losing Kobe Bryant to retirement in 2016, the Lakers were desperate to get veterans to mentor their young team. They lost out on big free agents and then went on to overpay Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov. Deng was given a massive $72 million four-year deal, despite him clearly slowing down. He was 31 when he signed the deal and it would go on till he was 35. Mozgov, on the other hand, was given a $64 million four-year deal.
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Los Angeles Lakers and the failed 2016 Free Agency
Coming off their worst season ever, the Lakers needed a lot of help, especially since Kobe was retiring. They needed a solid wing player along with an experienced big man. After losing out on the big free agents available, the Lakers ended up giving the bag to both Deng and Mozgov.
Both of them were entering their 30s and had shown signs of decline. Deng came off a decent season with the Heat, however, Mozgov was averaging just 6.3 points and 4.4 rebounds in his previous season with the Nets. Although they were able to get rid of Mozgov next season, Deng was still on the team.
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During the 2017-18 season, Deng earned a whopping $17 million to play just one game all season. Since he just played 13 minutes, he earned around $1,307,692 per minute played during the whole season.
Signing him was a good move, as the Lakers had just drafted Brandon Ingram and Deng could have mentored him. But paying him $72 million to do that was foolish. Deng was a two-time All-Star during his Chicago Bulls days but didn’t have much to offer except advice when he joined the Lakers.
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When the 2019 Free Agency was about to commence, the Lakers had a buyout deal with Deng. They cleared $38 million in cap space as they prepared to offer a max contract to LeBron James. They successfully signed him and prevented a repeat of the 2016 tragic free agency window.