The youth movement continues in Los Angeles. After a Tuesday report indicated that the Lakers have shut down Timofey Mozgov for the remainder of the season, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com writes that the team has taken the same approach with veteran forward Luol Deng. Over the final 15 games, the Lakers will give the majority of the playing time to their younger players, per Shelburne.
Neither Deng nor Mozgov had seen the court much lately for the Lakers, and both players were comfortable with the idea of being shut down for the season, rather than waiting for sporadic opportunities to play for a few minutes at a time, says Shelburne. According to the ESPN scribe, the Lakers’ could revisit Deng’s and Mozgov’s roles at some point down the stretch, but the plan is for both players to be inactive the rest of the way.
The move to shut down Deng doesn’t come as a real surprise, particularly after word broke that Mozgov would be shut down. The postseason is well out of reach for the Lakers, and with less than a month left in the season, it makes sense for the new management group – including president of basketball operations Magic Johnson and GM Rob Pelinka – to take a longer look at the team’s young talent.
The Lakers, who currently rank second in our 2016/17 Reverse Standings, also badly need to keep their 2017 first-round pick, which will be sent to Philadelphia if it doesn’t land within the top three. If the club loses its 2017 pick, it will also owe its 2019 first-rounder to Orlando — the Lakers will keep both picks if they land in the top three this year.
Deng, who hasn’t appeared in a single game for the Lakers this month, will finish the season with 7.6 PPG and a .386 FG% (both career lows) in 56 games if he doesn’t play again. Deng is unlikely to be traded or waived in the offseason, since he has three years and $54MM left on his contract, so Los Angeles will be hoping he can bounce back next season at age 32.
Even if the Lakers win too much, the league will fix it so they draft in the top 3. Just like they did when they fixed it so the Knicks would get Ewing in the 1980s, and the way the Cavs got overall No. 1s after Bron Bron left them for Miami.
Totally why the league didn’t fix for them in 2014 when they ended up with the 7th pick right.
I have a “smidge” more faith with David “Hollywood” Stern gone. Stern was all rah-rah Lakers (witness the referees action in the playoffs over the years). Also, the Lakers will get Lonzo Ball because the kid is already crying over wanting to play there.
If Stern was so “rah-rah Lakers” then how come he didn’t let the CP3 trade go through? I hope you guys are being sarcastic because you said like idiots
And how Chris Paul is starring for them right now.
We already knew they shut them down since the all star break, it’s not a surprise.
It’s ironic that the league’s ‘glamour’ team is intentionally tanking, and the response is … there is no response! As in, so what? I thought the sixers were vilified for years, and the Lakers are business as usual. Unintended consequences of The Process!
The Minneapolis Lakers are a punchline. Ingram sucks.
Traded Lou Williams so they could lose more and now this, deng doesn’t fit with that group anyway he needs to be on team with veterans and he isn’t worth what they gave him anyway but I suppose he probably had other similar offers so who am I to say he isn’t worth that. Mogov gets hated and bashed but he is actually pretty damn good, 7’3 and can really score the ball he played well for cavs in playoffs couple years ago, good touch and can really finish strong, but he will be inconsistent like any player of you give him inconsistent minutes and not a lot. I wonder why all the teams jumped to make big offers to centers last summer if they aren’t going to play them, mosgov, Noah, mahimni, biyombo, none of those guys is worth 20% of your salary cap. I feel bad for knocks fans if they give rose the max or even close, him, melo and Noah is the most overpaid big 3 ever.