Timofey Mozgov was officially the first reported signing of the 2017 off-season and the first beneficiary of the huge salary cap increase and crazy amount of money teams had to spend.
He was given a four-year, $64 million contract by the Los Angeles Lakers to presumably be their starting center and center for the near future.
It hasn’t worked out that way.
Mozgov is averaging 7.4 points and 4.9 rebounds in 54 appearances and 20 minutes per game this season. He has slowly been falling out of the rotation and the Lakers have officially announced that he is being shut down for the remainder of the season to give their younger players more playing time, despite being completely healthy.
At @YahooBDL: The Lakers will reportedly make Timofey Mozgov a healthy scratch for the rest of the season: https://t.co/7Ig3gdOYvM pic.twitter.com/eNfxWkUj7H
— Dan Devine (@YourManDevine) March 14, 2017
Expect fellow high-priced free agent veteran (and disappointment frankly) Luol Deng to be added to that list as reports are that he could be sat for the final 16 games as well.
So for those of you counting at home, that is $34 million in 2016 free agent salary that is now sitting at the end of the Lakers bench. I am no economic expert, but that seems to be a pretty bad initial return on investment.
The Lakers are doing whatever they can to salvage their 2017 1st round draft pick (if it falls outside of the top 3 the 76ers get it) and sitting these veterans while allowing more playing time for Ivica Zubac, Tarik Black and Brandon Ingram is definitely a win-win or lose-lose (I’m confused) for the Lakers.
