According to a report from ESPN’s Chris Haynes, the Los Angeles Lakers and veteran forward Luol Deng have reached a buyout agreement.
Deng, who has career averages of 15.0 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, had 2 years remaining on a 4 year. $72 million deal he signed during the free. agency free-for-all in the summer of 2016.
The 14 year veteran and two-time all-star will enter free agency and, according to sources, willl draw interest from multiple contending teams.
Prior to making this move, the Lakers were projecting to have $25 million in cap space for the 2019-20 season. With buying out Deng, the cap space increases to $36 to $38 million, opening an additional max contract slot next offseason.
Lakers GM Rob Pelinka had this to say in a statement:
We want to thank Luol for his time with the Lakers. We made this move to further our future salary cap and roster flexibility, as we continue to build this Lakers team according to our current overall vision.
Deng, 33, had appeared in only one game this past season, the opener, before being sat for the rest of year.
