Los Angeles Lakers: Three midseason trades to get rid of Luol Deng

Luol Deng’s contract is the biggest obstacle to signing another star, yet luckily for the Los Angeles Lakers, there are multiple ways to flip Deng via trade.

The Los Angeles Lakers had big plans on the horizon after signing LeBron James to a four-year, $154 million deal. James obviously is enough to put the Lakers in the postseason and will make them competitive against the best teams in the league.

However, there is still a ways to go before the Lakers match the Golden State Warriors in terms of talent and the young assets still might be another two years away from progressing and flirting with their potential ceilings.

Thus, the Lakers have seemingly made signing another star next offseason a priority. That seemed to be the priority this year before Paul George opted to re-sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Instead of George, the Lakers inked several veterans to one-year contracts to remain flexible next summer.

But still, the Lakers are slightly under what the team would need to sign another star and are millions away from having enough to sign another star and actually fill out a roster; mostly because of the $36 million owed to Luol Deng over the next two seasons.

And while stretching Deng out has become a possibility that the Lakers could consider, with only two years left on his deal (one and a half by midseason) he actually is not as hard to trade as some may think.

There are quite a few expiring contracts and deals that could be made to get Deng off the books and open up another $18 million next summer. Here are our three favorite scenarios.