CHICAGO -Thanks to a four-year $72 million contract he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in the summer of 2016, Luol Deng was paid $17.1 million for his efforts last season.
But the two-time All-Star languished on the bench and appeared in only one game, clocking in 13 minutes. He collected $208,536 for the brief outing, the same amount he got in each of the 81 other games that he didn't play.
In other words, the 6-foot-9, 220-pound former Duke University star, was arguably the league's most expensive mentor/cheerleader.
Last Saturday, ESPN reported that the Lakers and Deng have come to terms on an amicable divorce, a buy-out that benefited both sides.
The Lakers agreed to pay Deng the two years remaining on his four-year $72 million contract and thus creating $38 million in salary cap space which the team needs to pursue free agents in 20019.
Deng, on the other hand, agreed to take $7.5 million less from the $36.8 million he was owed, but in exchange for the significant financial sacrifice, he gets the unrestricted freedom to resurrect his career elsewhere.
Deng, who has so far banked $136.7 million in NBA salaries according to basketballreference.com, is only 33, but has significant wear and tear.
The 15-year veteran has logged a punishing 30,549 minutes in 880 regular season games. In contrast, the recently retired Manu Ginobili only had 26,859 minutes in 1,057 regular season games through 16 years.
Selected by the Phoenix Suns as the seventh overall pick in the 2004 NBA Draft, Deng was traded on draft night to Chicago for former Ginebra import Jackson Vroman and a 2005 first-round draft pick that yielded Nate Robinson.
Deng was a beloved Bull for ten solid seasons, embraced by fans who viewed him as the epitome of their blue-collar image. Testing the limits of his endurance. Deng led the league in minutes played for two straight seasons (2011-12 and 2012-13). Besides averaging 16.1 points, 6.4 rebounds and 2.5 assists per, he was also tasked as the primary defender of the opposing teams' best players.
Deng's running with the Bulls ended on January 6, 2014 when he was traded to Cleveland. He also had a brief two-year stop with the Miami Heat before finding a new home in Los Angeles.
But L.A. was a bad fit for Luol, an aging wing stuck in a system populated with youngsters that play a fast-paced offense.
While the free agent market isn't particularly high on thirty-something dudes with the odometer of a beat-up Prius, Deng will attract suitors because of his experience, work ethic, and sound defense. He also brings a locker room presence and a calming influence in the huddle, assets that the retired David West infused the Golden State Warriors with.
Hoop Rumors listed six possible landing spots for Deng - the Timberwolves, Rockets, Warriors, Hornets, Raptors and Bucks. Wherever that may be, Deng will make most out of the journey, just like he did when basketball took him from his home in South Sudan to Egypt to the United Kingdom, and finally, the NBA.
Always a fool for happy endings I'd like to see Deng light a fire in frigid Minnesota's belly with a TimberBulls reunion cast with Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, Jimmy Butler, and of course, coach Tom Thibodeau.
ROGER AND OUT. In front of a star-studded crowd that included former President Bill Clinton, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, and the irascible Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, Roger Federer was bounced off the 2018 U.S. Open last Monday.
Falling in four sets to 55tth-ranked John Millman of Australia, (3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3), the fourth-round exit at the famed Arthur Ashe Stadium inside the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York was the earliest for Federer in a major event since 2013.
Federer, ranked No.2 in the world with $116,9 million in prize winnings and 20 Grand Slam titles, had 76 unforced errors, which is as rare as a priest breaking half of the Ten Commandments. Prior to the disaster Federer was 40-for-40 against opponents ranked 50 and over.
But the numbers that mattered most were on the weather conditions during the match -- 83-degrees with 74 percent humidity.
Federer, 37, simply surrendered to the elements.
"For some reason I just struggled with the conditions tonight. I just thought it was very hot tonight. I felt I couldn't get air. There was no circulation at all. It's uncomfortable, sweating more and more and more as the match goes on. You lose energy as it goes by. When you feel like that, everything is off," Federer said after the match.
It's not an excuse, just an explanation as to why tennis' greatest player ever lost to a 29-year old who hasn't won even one singles title in the ATP Tour and has reached the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event only once since turning pro in 2008.
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