Los Angeles Lakers: Ranking three worst contracts

1. Luol Deng

The NBA stretch provision is a kingmaker for the worst-contracts list. Imagine a player making so much money that you’d be crazy to outright waive them but their production is so poor you’d rather they not be on the team. So instead, you do waive them but have their cap hit spread out over many seasons as a gentle reminder of past follies.

Luol Deng is set to make $4.99 million the next two seasons and he hasn’t played an NBA game since 2018-19. Deng is the Lakers’ sixth highest-paid player this season and one of only seven contracts on their books for the 2021-22 season.

Deng was a mistake of the previous Lakers regime when they inked the then 30-year-old to a four-year $72 million dollar contract in the summer of 2016. The deal was a disaster from the start as Deng’s body was completely broken down after averaging 38.8 minutes a game from 2009-10 to 2012-13.

Waiving him using the stretch provision was the right thing for the Lakers, but it shows just how devastating a really bad contract can be. Deng is set to make almost as much as the Lakers are paying Marc Gasol and Markieff Morris this season.

How much would it matter if the Lakers had that extra $5 million? A lot because of how the luxury tax and salary cap puts constraints on a team’s ability to spend. The Lakers could have used that extra cap space to maybe convince one of the more marquee free agents to take a one-year deal to chase a championship or they could have used that money to go after Serge Ibaka.

Luol Deng was a good player who earned his contract. Through wear and tear, his body couldn’t hold up. The Lakers made the best bad decision in waiving him via the stretch provision. Now, if the Lakers narrowly miss out on another championship, you’ll know why. The ghost of Luol Deng’s contract came back to haunt them.