According to sources talking to Shams Charania, the Lakers have requested for Luol Deng to be removed from team books.
Luol Deng agreed to a buyout in 2018 and retired in October 2019. He is owed salary until 2022.
What Does This Mean?
Well clearly the Lakers want that money off the books so they can use it this off-season. Getting Deng off the books would give the team an extra $5 million they can use which is very helpful for a team that has very little money left to use after paying Lebron James and, hypothetically, Anthony Davis huge contracts.
What’s next?
The league will have to take a look at the Lakers request and either approve it to deny it. The timetable for that is unclear as the league can approve or reject this once it’s formally submitted and the league goes through its process of approval/rejection. I won’t speculate much on this since it’s very unclear how long the process will take so for now it’s just interesting to note that the request was made.
Basketball Never Stops
This off season is unknown and happening quickly. Just ten days ago the Lakers won the championship and since than news stories on Rondo opting out, AD re-signing, and Javale McGee’s LA home being sold have surfaced. It’s hard not to speculate and even harder not to drown in all the information, misinformation, and alterior motives people have for leaking this news. Hopefully the NBA gives us a timeline on what the off-season and next season will look like so at least this never ending off-season actually has an end in sight.
Lakers Takes 