Can We Please Stop Talking About Luol Deng Like He's Dead?

A few weeks ago, I was playing pickup basketball in Harlem at Riverside Park. One of my opponents (who absolutely could not guard me off the dribble) was wearing a truly remarkable, worn-out shirt that read “Deng-erous Deng” in honor of the great Luol Deng. Classic. As a writer, I love seeing such impressive use of the English language.

I genuinely complimented the shirt when I first saw it. It was the perfect blend of mustiness and nostalgia that you come to expect from Bulls fans, who generally seem to be unaware that the league continued its existence after 1998. I admired this fan’s commitment to “The Man from Sudan” as he is allegedly nicknamed according to BasketballReference.com. Not Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, or Rose, this guy missed the days of Luol Deng gracing the floors of the United Center with his 12-point, 5 rebound games.

Seeing this shirt in combination with the Lakers’ free agency moves really started making me think – why does everyone talk about Luol Deng like he’s dead? If not dead, maybe an amputee, or someone left paralyzed from the waist down. I truly don’t get it. The guy, by all accounts, is a fully healthy, world-class athlete.

Deng is on a bad contract, I certainly won’t deny that. Paying nearly 20% off your cap to a guy heading into his 16th season is typically a bad idea (See James, LeBron for an exception). However, I feel terrible for the guy. The Lakers shut him down after their shift in front office last year and he was stuck playing pretend games on a treadmill while watching from the locker room (there's a real story about this happening). He wasn’t part of the youth vision of last year’s Lakers team, but I think it’s time to reassess heading into this year.

I joked with friends about the possibility of a Deng, LeBron, Kawhi, PG big 4 in LA and how amazing it would be if he were to suddenly be an impactful player again. Do I think this is likely? Absolutely not. But I also don’t think the guy should be talked about as if he’s Stanley Hudson getting paid $18 million to be on an NBA team. The guy was an All-Star in 2013, and is not far removed from being an impactful player in a playoff series. If the Lakers aren’t going to dump his contract (they won’t be able to), then why not give the guy a chance to earn some minutes off the bench? I refuse to believe that he’s completely inept and an absolute detriment to a team that is constituted entirely of infants and journeymen.

I want to emphasize again that this contract is completely moronic, and that Mitch Kupchak should be wildly embarrassed by it, but the Lakers are stuck with it – so why not try and get something out of it? If nothing else, please acknowledge that this guy isn’t an incapable NBA player, he’s just in the wrong situation. I’m all in on giving it a shot. As a matter of fact, Deng shot 50% from the floor last year*, that’s good enough for run on a lot of teams!

*1-2 shooting on the season