NBA Trade Rumors: 5 Los Angeles Lakers most likely to be traded in 2017

4. Luol Deng

Deng is in a similar situation to that of Mozgov. He’s an underwhelming, overpaid player who is coming off a subpar 2016-17 campaign. To make matters worse, he recently underwent surgery on his pectoral muscle and was shutdown by the Lakers before this past season was even over.

At 32 years old, Deng’s best basketball is well behind him. Yet, for some reason, the Lakers decided he was worth $18 million per year last offseason. It’s another perfect example of Jim Buss’ ineptitude as the shot-caller, and likely helped Jeanie Buss make the midseason decision to overhaul the front office.

His numbers weren’t much better than Mozgov’s this past year. He finished the season with per-game averages of 7.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 0.9 steals. Deng also managed a career-worst 38.7 percent from the field, only strengthening the belief that he’s long past his days of being an effective offensive presence.

Like Mozgov, every effort will be made to unload Deng’s contract in the coming months. While I wouldn’t hold my breath that a deal is struck, you never know what can happen. Maybe the Lakers convince some team to take him off their hands as part of a deal that also includes some younger assets.

Signing Paul George next offseason isn’t going to be easy unless Magic finds more cap space. Parting with Deng and his $18 million annually would be a great start.