While the Los Angeles Lakers, owners of the NBA’s second-worst record, are already projected to keep this year’s top-three protected first-round pick, they aren’t taking any chances.
They’re shutting down both Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov for the rest of the year, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com:
The Los Angeles Lakers have effectively shut down healthy veterans Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov for the rest of the season to give the majority of playing time over the final 15 games to their younger players, sources told ESPN.
First of all, talk about your $136 million, spread out over the next four years, well-spent. Second of all, this is something a little less than a blatant tank job.
The Lakers have a two-game hold over the Phoenix Suns for the 29th-best record, a lead they are unlikely to squander regardless of who they play. The Brooklyn Nets, meanwhile, are 7.5 games worse than the boys in purple and gold. There isn’t enough time to erase that deficit.
Playing Mozgov actually makes the Lakers worse. He rates as one of their three least valuable contributors, according to NBA Math’s Total Points Added. Deng’s close-to-positive-value as a defender offsets Mozgov’s tanking chops, but even he didn’t make the team better.
This move is actually about playing the kiddies, which is fine. Deng’s and Mozgov’s contracts aren’t, but that’s an issue for the offseason—likely the next three of them. For now, the Lakers are on track to add another top-three prospect to a nucleus of D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram and Larry Nance Jr. That’s not a terrible place to be.
