JULY 8: The Lakers have formally announced their deal with Mozgov, via a press release.
JULY 1: The Lakers have reached an agreement with free agent center Timofey Mozgov on a four-year contract worth $64MM, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical (Twitter link). We heard earlier tonight that the two sides were in serious discussions and were nearing a deal.
It’s an eye-popping payday for Mozgov, who will turn 30 later this month. He was a part-time starter and rotational piece for the Cavaliers’ championship team this past season, averaging 6.3 PPG, 4.4 RPG, and 0.8 BPG in 17.4 minutes per contest. However, he was essentially a non-factor in the playoffs, averaging less than six minutes per game in the 13 postseason contests in which he played.
A year ago, Mozgov was a full-time starter in the postseason for the Cavs, averaging 14.4 PPG, 9.9 RPG, and 2.4 BPG during the team’s 2015 playoff run. That’s the sort of production the Lakers will likely be hoping for from the seven-footer going forward.
Before agreeing to sign Mozgov, the Lakers had been linked to a number of other free agent centers, including Al Horford and Hassan Whiteside, among others. However, it’s not clear how much interest there was from the players’ sides in those cases. For what it’s worth, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com tweets that Pau Gasol wouldn’t have been entirely opposed to a Lakers reunion.
By reaching a non-max deal with a center, the Lakers will also now have a little extra cap flexibility to address other positions.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Terrible
I can sew bismack getting less and he is way better
You must be on something
Biz is younger and MIGHT have more upside but he is much more limited offensively than Mozie. On a contender like Toronto where he can clean up for their star players he would be much more of a liability for the Lakers whereas Mozie can be a featured player from the post.
Keep in mind Biz was a 7th overall pick who has been a bust so far in his first 5 seasons.
bust? he didn’t have very high expectations when he got drafted. he was far from polished and it took him some time but I wouldn’t say bust
He’s not a bust (yet) but he also didn’t live up to expectations in Charlotte.
He was a #7 pick taken ahead of prospects from well known college programs such as Brandon Knight (Kentucky), Kemba Walker (UConn) and Jim Fredette. And even though they were not as highly regarded coming out of college, he was taken ahead of Klay Thompson and Kawhi Leonard too. He was absolutely expected to be a better player than what he has shown, although they felt he might need time to get it going. It’s been at least 5 years since he’s been in the NBA and hasn’t shown a lick of being more than a role player.
First of all KnicksCavsFan wtf mate? Jump off a bandwagon please. Second the Jimmer is terrible at best.
How is he way better? The guy has done nothing up until this postseason but even then, his game is extremely limited. He can’t post up and basically turns it over everytime he touches it when its not a rebound or putback.
The guy played twenty-two minutes per game and still averaged 8 boards a game. If his number is 30 minutes a game, you are guaranteeing double digit boards a night along with significant rim protection. While he is 23, he may never develop an offensive game. Is that so bad to have a guy who is essentially your energy guy on offense while playing a high level of defense?
No its not, but he’s not way better than Mozgov, and I don’t know if I’d even say better. Mozgov does all the same things while also contributing more on the offensive end.
Garbage
scrubs making all star money. RIP NBA
Lakers are clearly going to have to pay a premium to get players to come to LA (much like how my Knicks have to overpay now). But clearly, in this new age $16 mil is not “all-star money” especially for bigs capable of giving you a double/double.
Good sign.
Now keep him injury free and use him in rotations
*see
Strike one Lakers.
Not sure if it is better to sign a second tier guy and lose or not sign someone and lose. FML
If Mozgov plays at the 2015 playoff run level, this is a good signing. It’ll be interesting to see what Biyombo gets since they’re similar players who only had success in a only one year’s playoffs.
This is still over 12 mil a year under the old salary cap system.
And that’s an over pay there.
Teams are going to over react to this cap change and don’t realize the economics well enough
Wtf are they doing.
Big. Slow. Bulky. Long term contract for a 30 year old.
Yeah that’s the direction the NBA is heading.
#WellPlayed
I love this! I also detest the Lakers.
This whole idea that teams must change the entire way the game is played just because of the success the Warriors have had is ridiculous. The NBA doesn’t have a bunch of Curry’s and Thompson’s to play that style of ball. While Mozie is no Shaq or Olajuwan, he is still a solid post player who can be successful in pick and roles and some dump ins to the post.
Mozie had some nice play action with LBJ or Delly feeding him when they penetrated and dished off or set him up for the alley oop.
Yeah, he did that with LeBron. Is he magically going to be doing this with Russell or Clarkson? Doubtful.
He also did it with Delly. Are you insinuating that an NBA level point guard can’t run a pick and roll or toss up and alley up when Mozie cuts to the hoop?
Cavs fan here not sad to lose Timofey Mozgov, bricks for hands.
Sure Lakers, throw money away. 4 years for this guy? Whatever I guess. We got a Center. Not happy at all but beggars can’t be choosers I guess. Hope we can at least sign one decent free agent this weekend
Bad bad bad bad bad
Wow. How far the lakers have fallen from grace is sad. Being a laker fan it is tough to see this franchise in this state. Jim buss is taking this franchise from one that was the model of basketball to a complete laughing stock where they can’t even get a good free agent to return their call. Jeanie please make the change to save what is left and turn us back into the powerhouse we know we are.
See the Lakers’ problem is that they now only have two advantages in pitching to free agents: potential marketing ability and the history of their franchise. They no longer can say that they can give the most money due to the rising cap that gives every team money and the new structure of deals (where they can only give 4 year deals as opposed to 5 year deals). On top of that, they aren’t going to be a serious contender for another couple of years. Their core is promising, but can anyone really say that barring a miraculous KD/LeBron signing, that they will definetly be a playoff team within the next three years? Maybe in the third year, but even with the addition of a mid tier star (Horford, DeRozan, Whiteside) the Lakers won’t be a playoff team this year. The only way for the Lakers to make the playoffs right away would be to trade from that core (Russell/Clarkson/Randle/Nance) but then that eliminates the selling point of developing a long term core (Russell/Clarkson/Randle/Nance/free agent). Until the Lakers can get closer to the playoffs, or one of their core four players develops into a star, I don’t see any players bolting to LA.
Lakers also have Ingram
Another Asik contract.. come on Lakers. Def will backfire on them. Should address to sign a starter … Then role players.
This is the kind of signing you would think you’d see on ‘The Onion.’
This is the kind of signing you’d see on ‘The Onion.’
Wow worst signing so far lol
95% sure i saw him in South Beach over the weekend coming out of one of those crappy souvenir shops
Why waste money on Mozgov? Save the cap space when closer to being competitive and on a player who has value for this type of money
whos next