Los Angeles Lakers: Luol Deng and the five worst NBA contracts

Much of the Los Angeles Lakers’ motives have been built around getting rid of Luol Deng. Deng stands as the most costly mistake in the Lakers immediate future.

What were they thinking?

Luol Deng was a pretty solid player in his prime. A long-time member of the Chicago Bulls, Deng was always a very solid NBA player and definitely was above the league’s average talent threshold. At the time of joining the Los Angeles Lakers, Deng was a 13 year veteran with two all-star nods, an All-Rookie nod and an All-Defensive nod.

Again, Deng was solid on both sides of the court; he was a great scorer and has been a solid defender throughout his career. At his best, Deng flirted with 20 points on a nightly basis. In his best scoring season, Deng averaged 18.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists in all 82 games played.

However, that was the 2006-2007 season. Deng was a still a solid player, though. For his entire tenure with the Chicago Bulls Deng was a consistent option on both sides of the court.

From there, though, his resume gets less impressive. Deng spent a half season in Cleveland that actually was not too bad. After that, Deng headed to South Beach for two seasons of work, his numbers regressing each year.

Then, for some reason, the Los Angeles Lakers signed Deng to a four-year, $72 million contract following the 2015-2016 season; in which Deng averaged just 12.3 points.

Of course, hindsight is 20/20, but this deal has been nothing short of awful for the Lakers. Deng’s scoring dipped to 7.6 points per game in his first year as a Laker. This season, Deng has played just 13 minutes; all coming in the season opener.

It is safe to say that Deng’s contract is one of the worst in the NBA, which got us thinking; what are the worst contracts in the NBA? Here are our five choices.