Los Angeles Lakers NBA Trade Rumors: Teams Asking for Ball, Ingram or Kuzma in Potential Luol Deng Deals
It looks like the Los Angeles Lakers won't be trading veteran forward Luol Deng anytime soon unless they are willing to part ways with one of their up-and-coming players.
According to the Orange County Register's Bill Oram, rival teams are only willing to absorb the roughly $36 million remaining on Deng's contract if the Lakers include Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram or Kyle Kuzma in the deal.
The Lakers were willing to ship guard D'Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets to unload Timofey Mozgov's lucrative contract last summer, but they don't want to give up another promising player this time. Besides Ball, Ingram and Kuzma are considered potential franchise cornerstones.
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The Lakers would love to move Deng elsewhere so they could get his contract off the books before to the 2018 offseason, but they were not going to accept such a deal. That means a buyout remains their best option.
For now, Deng will have to be patient because it is going to take a while for this to get sorted out.
"It's been hard. It's not easy not to play, but at the end of the day I'm trying to control what I can control. I'm still there with the team, I'm at practices, I'm trying to help the young guys as much as I can. For me, I would love to play. I don't know if it will be here to be honest with you," Deng said, via the Orange County Register.
"They've made it clear that I'm not wanted here. So for me I've just got to focus on what I got to control," he added.
Deng has only appeared in one game this season. He has career averages of 15.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and a steal per game, and he has been named an All-Star twice during his stint with the Chicago Bulls.
