Duke Blue Devils: Deng to Lakers
Former Duke Blue Devils player Luol Deng cashed in during this crazy season of NBA free agency.
Former Duke Blue Devils forward Luol Deng made an interesting move by jumping the playoff contender Miami Heat to sign with the young Los Angeles Lakers and the unknown future. Deng’s deal with the Lakers pays him $72 million dollars over four years according to reports from The Vertical.
The Heat were having their own free agent adventure when Deng left. They were courting Kevin Durant and in the middle of a surprise negotiation with free agent Dwyane Wade. They had secured free agent Hassan Whiteside to a max deal. No one know if Chris Bosh will be able to come back from his medical issues.
Assuming Bosh does come back, Deng would also have been motivated to leave the Heat because he would have had no role on the team other than coming off the bench. Deng’s best production came when he had to fill in at the power forward spot for Bosh while the team developed Justise Winslow for the small forward spot.
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The Lakers at least offer Deng some more opportunity to play. His natural position is the small forward, but the Lakers have new rookie Brandon Ingram at that spot as well. If Deng shifts to power forward again, there is overlap with Julius Randle. However you don’t hand somebody $18 million to sit the bench. At least I don’t think you do.
The Lakers have now added Ingram, Deng, Timofey Mozgov, and re-signed Jordan Clarkson to their roster. Those are all signs of building something. Perhaps the Lakers plan is to move D’Angelo Russell to the point guard position and play bigger at the two. Ingram’s length would be pretty good in perimeter defense and that would allow the Lakers to start their five best players.
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In the back of their minds, the Lakers have to be thinking about ways to counter the Golden State Warriors and defense seems to be the common thread. Deng had a reputation as a defender in Chicago and Mozgov fills the middle. That project will be interesting to watch this season.