As of this coming Saturday, teams waiving a player can no longer stretch that player’s 2018/19 cap hit — only the player’s future cap charges can be stretched.
That’s an item of interest for a player like Luol Deng, who has two years and $36.81MM left on his contract with the Lakers. If he were stretched today, Deng would count against the team’s cap for $7.362MM over each of the next five years. Waiving and stretching him on Saturday would leave his 2018/19 cap hit as is, creating $6.27MM annual cap charges for the following three seasons.
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In an in-depth and interesting piece for GiveMeSport.com, cap expert Mark Deeks argues that, as of Saturday, the time is right for the Lakers to make a move involving Deng. The Lakers want to create as much cap room as possible for the 2019 offseason and trading Deng in a salary-dump deal is their best path to maximizing that cap space, but Deeks doesn’t view that as a realistic or desirable option. Any deal that clears Deng’s salary from the Lakers’ books would cost the team at least a first-round pick, and likely more than that, given how unappealing the contract is.
In Deeks’ view, the Lakers’ best bet is to push for a buyout sometime after September 1. Deng has spoken about wanting the opportunity to play this coming season, and if he doesn’t think he’ll get the chance to get back on the court in Los Angeles, he could be open to giving back a portion of his salary to play elsewhere. Deng won’t surrender a huge chunk of the money owed to him, but Deeks believes a buyout in the $5MM range isn’t unrealistic — after all, the veteran forward could essentially make that money back by signing minimum-salary contracts over the next two seasons.
In that scenario, the Lakers would apply a pro-rated portion of the buyout to each of Deng’s remaining seasons, reducing his cap hit for 2019/20, which in turn would reduce the annual cap charges created by stretching him.
The Lakers are under no pressure to do anything with Deng right now. Stretching Deng on September 1 and doing so next July would have the same impact on the team’s cap. So it may be in the team’s best interests to be patient, exploring the trade market at the deadline and again next summer to see if any takers are out there — if not, the club could simply waive and stretch Deng in 10 months.
Still, Deeks argues that the Lakers’ leverage in buyout talks won’t improve over the course of the year, since allowing Deng to reach free agency now would give him the chance to catch on with a new team for the 2018/19 season. In other words, this may be the club’s best chance to reduce Deng’s stretched cap hits as much as possible.
Additionally, even if the Lakers are able to eventually find a trade involving Deng, they’ll have to give up young players and/or picks to make it happen, and Deeks doesn’t believe surrendering those assets would be worth creating a little extra cap room — even if that extra cap room helps open up a 35% maximum-salary slot.
What do you think? Should the Lakers start working on a Deng buyout now and try to resolve the situation soon? Or does it make sense to hang onto him until at least next summer in order to maximize their potential options?
Head to the comment section below to weigh in on Deng and the Lakers.
Hold on to him. Don’t need the extra money this season. His value will get better the closer the deal is to expiring
Agreed.
Let the guy have a chance to play, he may be motivated to play scrap ball with the rest of the “thugs”, which in turn may increase his value to be traded end of next season when he only has 1 year left.
Agree w/ you to, btw We’ll see the (thugs) when we play the warriors!
Mr Donkey! hahaha
Hopefully the new recruits give Green a good touch up
Trade him to the Timberwolves for Dieng. Gets the lakers a starting caliber center for 3mil less a year.
I don’t think the Timberwolves value Dieng like they once did, but I don’t think they’d make that deal.
Thibs loves his ex bulls players. He’ll make that trade once Joakim Noah is bought out.
Agreed. They only make the trade if they get Noah for the minimum and they only do it because dengs deal is a year shorter and he plays a position of need.
He’s not getting off the bench Just send him home for the season like the Knicks did Noah. Don’t need the distraction around the team.
re-evaluate the situation next off season
Agree with Ethan Heth. No need to do much just now.
Luol Deng makes millions, his future will be fine. Can we talk about my future?
Sure. So what is the secret to making a really great pizza? I would imagine being Assistant Manager Trainee at Papa Johns is a great start on your future and a very responsible position. Please keep us posted. We are here for you. Sweet Semolina!
Lol ruthless