It all started late Thursday night when L.A. reached an agreement with man mountain Timofey Mozgov on a four-year, $64 million deal, first reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical.
Bleacher Report's Howard Beck referred to the Lakers' opening salvo as "baffling to say the least." Watch more of Beck's critique below:
That was soon followed by a re-signing agreement with Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson for four years and $50 million, per The Vertical’s Shams Charania. Saturday, L.A. and combo forward Luol Deng reached an agreement for $72 million over four years, also broken by Charania.
Simply put: so much money and such long contracts.
But it wasn’t just the Lakers; the entire league was awash with inflated megadeals over the July 4 weekend, punctuated by an official news release from NBA.com that the 2016-17 salary cap had been set at $94.143 million.
According to Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, the Lakers would currently have a little over $25 million left to spend if they were to waive Nick Young and stretch his contract.
The hulking Mozgov didn’t see much floor time during the Cleveland Cavaliers' championship run and was hampered over the course of the season by knee issues. But he’s a huge interior presence who will likely start while not expected to play heavy minutes.
Deng, on the other hand, is a solid defender who still seems to have plenty of gas in the tank.
Additionally, the new frontcourt additions are high-character glue guys who will help guide a young Lakers roster and could also help add some wins in the process.
“The Lakers are paying a premium to establish structure...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Los Angeles Lakers
