Former NBA forward Luol Deng, a two-time All-Star, says he was lured to Los Angeles with a rich contract but then never given a real chance to play in his second season. In a September 2026 interview on the Knuckleheads podcast, Deng recalled being courted by the Miami Heat and Lakers in 2016. He “wanted to stay in Miami, but Pat Riley kept it real,” Deng said, quoting Riley telling him, “I can’t pay you that much money. You gotta take that money”. With those words, Deng accepted the Lakers’ offer – a four-year, $72 million deal – even though he had only intended “to go there to hoop.” He later admitted that, in hindsight, “the plan was not what I was told”.
2016: Four-Year, $72M Lakers Contract
In July 2016, after Kobe Bryant’s retirement, the rebuilding Lakers signed Deng in free agency to a four-year, $72 million contract. (The Lakers also signed center Timofey Mozgov that offseason.) The deal made Deng one of the team’s highest-paid players, and brought veteran experience to a young roster. As The Washington Post noted at the time, Deng was a solid perimeter player with a long NBA resume. Neither Deng nor the Lakers had publicly commented on the deal immediately, though teammate Dwyane Wade jokingly congratulated him on Twitter: “Congrts my brother. Now you can afford your own socks,” Wade wrote.
Deng’s Perspective: Miami vs. Lakers
On the podcast, Deng said Miami coach Pat Riley honestly admitted the Heat couldn’t match the Lakers’ offer. “I looked at it like, ‘You know what, I might never ever get this opportunity again,’” Deng explained. He took the money and moved to L.A., but quickly realized things were not as expected. By mid-2017, Deng said he was “getting all this money, but it didn’t feel right. It didn’t feel the same. I wanted to play. I wanted to be a part of the team. I wanted a chance”. Instead, he was told repeatedly that “we’re going in a different direction” and that younger players would get the opportunities. In his own words, Deng said the experience “changed how I looked at the league, my love for the game,” because despite his contract he was effectively shut out of play.
2016–17 Season: Sharp Drop in Production
On the court, Deng’s numbers with Los Angeles fell far below his previous Miami levels. In 2015–16 with Miami he had averaged about 14.1 points on 44.8% shooting, but in 2016–17 (his first Lakers season) he managed only 7.6 points per game on 38.7% field-goal shooting over 56 games. He started 49 of those games, but his efficiency and scoring were well down. (By contrast, Deng had been an All-Star with Chicago and routinely scored in double figures for years before joining L.A.) Deng’s worst struggles came late in that season, and by its end it was clear he was not living up to the contract.
2017–18 Season: Focus on Youth and Benchings
The following season Deng’s playing time collapsed to virtually nothing. He started and played only the opening game of 2017–18 before being pulled from the rotation. The young core of Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Julius Randle, Kyle Kuzma and others were given priority. Deng told the podcast that just weeks into the season coaches kept telling him the team would “only gonna play the young guys”. They would then intermittently call him back to practice (“get in shape, practice and so on”), only to bench him again with the same explanation. By late 2017, Deng said he was exasperated – “’You’re gonna play. You’re not gonna play. You’re gonna play!’” – yet he never saw game action. He lamented that “you gave me so much money and now you’re not playing me,” and indeed “I was never allowed to play”.
- 2016–17 (LAL): 56 games (49 starts), 7.6 points, 38.7% FG.
- 2017–18 (LAL): 1 game (the opener), 2.0 points.
- 2015–16 (MIA) for context: 49 games, 14.1 points, 44.8% FG.
2018 Buyout and Cap Flexibility
With Deng sidelined, the Lakers chose to move on in fall 2018. On September 1, 2018, Los Angeles formally waived Deng – “just over two years after signing him” to that four-year, $72M contract. The Lakers did not immediately announce a buyout, but they did stretch Deng’s remaining salary (even waiving him before the final season began). In announcing the decision, GM Rob Pelinka emphasized that the move was designed “to further our future salary cap and roster flexibility as we continue to build this Lakers team”. According to reports, stretching Deng’s contract freed roughly $12 million in additional cap room for 2019 free agency (the Lakers were aiming to add a max-level star to play with LeBron James). In effect, the agreement to part ways reflected a mutual acknowledgment that Deng and the Lakers had mismatched goals; as one report noted, “it just wasn’t a match between the two sides”.
Luol Deng eventually signed a veteran-minimum contract with Minnesota (appearing 22 games there in 2018–19), and he has since focused on other pursuits. But his comments underscore that he deeply regrets how the Lakers situation unfolded. “I wanted to play… I wanted a chance,” he said, a shot at vindication that never came with L.A. The episode stands as a cautionary tale in Lakers history: a big contract taken, a chance at playing never truly given, and a split driven largely by strategic rebuilding decisions.
Sources: Quotes and details are drawn from Deng’s remarks on the Knuckleheads podcast (reported by LakersNation/YardBarker) and contemporary news reports. Contract and cap information come from official and media reports. Statistical data is from Deng’s NBA career records.
