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  1. #21
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Highlander View Post
    I'm not advocating you find someone to take his whole contract; I agree that's not going to happen. But would you take Luol for $3-4M a year (hypothetically)? And wouldn't it be worth it to the Lakers to get $3-4M and a roster spot open, even if they have to pay him $14M/year to play somewhere else? Especially since the alternative is paying him $18M and holding down a roster spot.

    Maybe it's $1-2M; maybe it's $5-6M. My point is he does have some value on the open market.

    It's like a stock that tanked after you bought it. You can hold it for 2 years, after which it is worthless, or you can try to unload it at the current market price and take a loss. Lakers get nothing for Deng if they let him walk in 2 years, and they're still out $36M.
    The problem is that you have to find a taker with either (a) enough cap space to absorb Deng’s contract or (b) a similar-priced deal to trade back. It isn’t like baseball where you can just find a team willing to take him while you absorb the salary. And in either case, you will either have to give up picks/prospects or take back an even worse contract. This is essentially what they did with trading Russell with Mozgov.

    There just aren’t many (any?) teams willing to take back Deng’s contract without giving back an equally bad contract or getting valuable assets. And the Lakers don’t have tradable assets unless they give away part of their core.

  2. #22
    Join Date
    Feb 2010
    Location
    Colorado
    Quote Originally Posted by Highlander View Post
    Gotcha. In that scenario, I could see that paying $14M now to pick up a new player doesn't sound like a great trade-off. And if you think you might try to use him next year as a veteran, okay fine. Even if you think you can get more for Deng on an expiring contract easier than Deng on a 2 year deal, I could see holding him. Regardless, his contract is a sunk cost, and the Lakers will pay $10+M regardless of whether Deng stays or goes.

    If they aren't going to eventually move him for something, even if it is for less than his contract value, then it's no different financially to just cut him.

    If I were the GM, I would offer him a buyout. If he truly wants to play somewhere, he can take something on his final year to get his release. Or he can do nothing and collect $18M for sitting in the locker room.
    Good thought, I agree.

    On a more subjective level, I barely remember Deng's one year with Duke. He seems like a good guy and he was certainly a good player. At the same time, I have a hard time getting too involved in his current situation (notwithstanding this post). He is making huge money and can take care of himself, his family and his charitable efforts for a long time.

  3. #23
    Join Date
    Jan 2009
    Location
    Boston, MA
    Quote Originally Posted by CDu View Post
    The problem is that you have to find a taker with either (a) enough cap space to absorb Deng’s contract or (b) a similar-priced deal to trade back. It isn’t like baseball where you can just find a team willing to take him while you absorb the salary. And in either case, you will either have to give up picks/prospects or take back an even worse contract. This is essentially what they did with trading Russell with Mozgov.

    There just aren’t many (any?) teams willing to take back Deng’s contract without giving back an equally bad contract or getting valuable assets. And the Lakers don’t have tradable assets unless they give away part of their core.
    Which they kinda already did in Nance Jr (and to a much lesser extent, Clarkson).

    The Lakers are bare bones right now in terms of expendable trade assets, with the exception of Julius Randle. However, I think Randle is worth a lot more than the Lakers give him credit for.
    Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things. - Winston Churchill

    President of the "Nolan Smith Should Have His Jersey in The Rafters" Club

  4. #24
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Raleigh, NC
    I just talked with my boss to see if I could swing the Deng situation. I told him that I'd stay home and not work for the next two years as long as they paid me. That way they could reclaim my cube space and move on to younger engineers (although we have lots of empty cubes in this building). Sadly, he didn't take me up on the offer so I guess I'll be back here tomorrow. Oh well, it was worth a shot.

  5. #25
    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    New Orleans, Louisiana
    Quote Originally Posted by elvis14 View Post
    I just talked with my boss to see if I could swing the Deng situation. I told him that I'd stay home and not work for the next two years as long as they paid me. That way they could reclaim my cube space and move on to younger engineers (although we have lots of empty cubes in this building). Sadly, he didn't take me up on the offer so I guess I'll be back here tomorrow. Oh well, it was worth a shot.
    You're not doing it right. Fight Club explains how a work-from-home proposal can be accomplished (NSFW):


  6. #26
    Quote Originally Posted by cato View Post
    The win-win situation would be for the Lakers to cut Deng, and allow him to sign with another team willing to pay him current market value for this services, and then offset what he receives under that contract against what the Lakers owe on the remainder of the contract. Deng gets to play, the Lakers open up a roster spot and other players are not harmed, since the player (Deng) is not giving back money.

    I assume there is a reason why teams/players cannot do this type of deal, since it doesn’t happen. Is that because of the salary cap?
    The Lakers can do that and might do that over the summer. If they can't trade him or buy him out, they will waive him and use the stretch provision for the $36 million remaining on the contract. That spreads the cap hit to $12 million for the next three years vs $18 million for two years freeing up $6 million. Heck I've read some wild sceneries where they could EXTEND him and then waive him to spread it out over a longer period to free up even more cap space. The stretch provision was designed for this exact scenario. If he signs with an other team the Lakers reduce their obligation by some percentage of the new salary.

  7. #27
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    I volunteer to sit on the bench in Dengs place and not play in return for half of what he makes over the next two years

  8. #28
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    New York, NY
    Quote Originally Posted by kako View Post
    I so wished he had hung around another year with Duke (the LSU loss still galls me). Anyway, it's a big problem for him, but that's life working for the man. He's got a huge silver lining. Still, glad he's handling is professionally, so props there. Magic's comments belayed his own intelligence (I can't imagine the Lakers ever getting good with his "guidance"). Hopefully another team will give Deng a chance next year after he's cut so he can go out more on his own terms.
    Luol wasn't a good player for us--he was GREAT. He game appeared effortless, but I seem to recall that it took the rest of the guys about 15 minutes of the first practice to recognize who was the best player on the team.

    He also was/is a terrific, bright, thoughtful guy.

    I'd love for him to have stayed a couple more years.

    Impossible to predict how things would have gone. How about a career ending injury that would have cost him +/- $100 million?

    Or, more likely, he would not have gotten this last contract and would be down maybe $35 million. He can afford that, I guess, but that's a lot of money to pay for a couple extra seasons at Duke.

  9. #29
    Join Date
    Mar 2016
    Location
    The Beach
    Quote Originally Posted by budwom View Post
    Heh, when I posted originally, I thought of saying he'd traded a third world problem for a first world one...thought someone might get edgy about that, but it's true.
    All that's happened is that a team badly misjudged how long he'd be a really good player...happens in baseball, too, when free agents get 10 year deals...(hello Mr. ARod)...
    I thought it was a little to edgy at first when I wrote it....That said, this does happen all the time. I bet the Angels wish they could go back and get out from under that deal they gave Albert Pujols. It's always that short sighted "win now and let's not worry about the money" mentality.

  10. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by Kdogg View Post
    The Lakers can do that and might do that over the summer. If they can't trade him or buy him out, they will waive him and use the stretch provision for the $36 million remaining on the contract. That spreads the cap hit to $12 million for the next three years vs $18 million for two years freeing up $6 million. Heck I've read some wild sceneries where they could EXTEND him and then waive him to spread it out over a longer period to free up even more cap space. The stretch provision was designed for this exact scenario. If he signs with an other team the Lakers reduce their obligation by some percentage of the new salary.
    Interesting proposition. Of all the proposed ideas this one looks to be the most reasonable for the Lakers.
    "There can BE only one."

  11. #31
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Steamboat Springs, CO
    Quote Originally Posted by Highlander View Post
    Interesting proposition. Of all the proposed ideas this one looks to be the most reasonable for the Lakers.
    Can we at least all agree that Luol's situation is to be envied, not pitied?

    I also have second-hand word that Kyle Singler "has the best job in the world," in his own words.
    Sage Grouse

    ---------------------------------------
    'When I got on the bus for my first road game at Duke, I saw that every player was carrying textbooks or laptops. I coached in the SEC for 25 years, and I had never seen that before, not even once.' - David Cutcliffe to Duke alumni in Washington, DC, June 2013

  12. #32
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    Chicago suburbs
    Loan to a European team?

    I don’t know the details but soccer leagues often retain rights to a player but loan them to another team.

    It seems like that type of scenario would benefit both Luol and the Lakers. He gets to play somewhere and the Lakers get something to help offset their salary commitment.

  13. #33
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NC
    Quote Originally Posted by Ranidad View Post
    Loan to a European team?

    I don’t know the details but soccer leagues often retain rights to a player but loan them to another team.

    It seems like that type of scenario would benefit both Luol and the Lakers. He gets to play somewhere and the Lakers get something to help offset their salary commitment.
    Different rules. Soccer leagues don’t have salary caps to deal with.

  14. #34
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    Santa Clara, CA
    Quote Originally Posted by johnb View Post
    Luol wasn't a good player for us--he was GREAT. He game appeared effortless, but I seem to recall that it took the rest of the guys about 15 minutes of the first practice to recognize who was the best player on the team.

    He also was/is a terrific, bright, thoughtful guy.

    I'd love for him to have stayed a couple more years.

    Impossible to predict how things would have gone. How about a career ending injury that would have cost him +/- $100 million?

    Or, more likely, he would not have gotten this last contract and would be down maybe $35 million. He can afford that, I guess, but that's a lot of money to pay for a couple extra seasons at Duke.
    I didn't mean to suggest Deng shouldn't have gone pro. He very wisely took the money to actually get paid for his services (as opposed to the indentured service life in the NCAA). I just very selfishly wish he had stayed, along with almost every other Duke guy who left early.

  15. #35
    I wonder if he would ever consider asking to be assigned to the G League on an off day.

  16. #36
    Quote Originally Posted by Kdogg View Post
    The Lakers can do that and might do that over the summer. If they can't trade him or buy him out, they will waive him and use the stretch provision for the $36 million remaining on the contract. That spreads the cap hit to $12 million for the next three years vs $18 million for two years freeing up $6 million. Heck I've read some wild sceneries where they could EXTEND him and then waive him to spread it out over a longer period to free up even more cap space. The stretch provision was designed for this exact scenario. If he signs with an other team the Lakers reduce their obligation by some percentage of the new salary.
    I believe the provision would stretch the remaining $36M over 5 years (2x+1)—saving ~$11M in cap space for the next 2 years while adding $7.2 for the last 3 years

  17. #37
    Quote Originally Posted by djp10 View Post
    I believe the provision would stretch the remaining $36M over 5 years (2x+1)—saving ~$11M in cap space for the next 2 years while adding $7.2 for the last 3 years
    You're right. Two times the remaining length plus one. That make's it a no brainer.

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