Luol Deng says his experience with the Los Angeles Lakers changed his perspective on the NBA after the team signed him to a four-year, $72 million contract but later removed him from the rotation.
Deng had wanted to remain with the Miami Heat before joining Los Angeles in 2016. However, Pat Riley advised him to accept the significantly larger offer available from the Lakers.
“I wanted to stay in Miami, but Pat Riley kept it real. Pat just said, ‘I can’t pay you that much money. You gotta take that money.’ I looked at it like, ‘You know what, I might never ever get this opportunity again.’ But my conversation about going to L.A. was to go there to hoop. I had a mindset of now I’m getting paid. I wanted to make it happen, so I took the chance and I took the money. But what the plan was, was not what I was told.”
Deng expected to have a meaningful role when he signed the contract, but the Lakers eventually shifted their attention toward developing younger players.
The situation became particularly difficult for Deng because he still wanted to compete despite receiving a lucrative salary.
“That kind of changed how I looked at the league, my love for the game and so on. I really mean it. I was getting all this money, but it didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel the same. What I mean by that is I wanted to play. I wanted to be a part of the team. I wanted a chance, but I was told, ‘We’re going in a different direction. I’m not dressing up and whatnot.’”
According to Deng, the Lakers repeatedly gave him different messages about his role.
He would be asked to prepare himself physically and participate in practices, only to later learn that the organization had decided to prioritize its younger roster.
“I always tell people there were a lot of conversations where one month into it, it was like, ‘We’re only gonna play the young guys.’ A month into it, it was like, ‘We need you to get in shape, practice and so on.’ I would get in shape and practice, and then it would be a sit down like, ‘Oh, actually, we decided we’re gonna play the young guys.’ It just kept going.”
By his second season, Deng no longer wanted to continue with the Lakers.
He also believed his large contract made finding another opportunity difficult because other teams could not evaluate him while he remained out of the lineup.
“Two years in, the second year, I was like, ‘I never want to play here.’ I remember it was just like, ‘You’re gonna play. You’re not gonna play. You’re gonna play.’ My agent was trying, but you gave me so much money and now you’re not playing me. Why would anyone else take that contract. You got to let me play for people to see, but I was never allowed to play.”
