The pay gap between Lakers players next season is obvious. With the exception of Westbrook, James, and Anthony Davis, all the other players are paid less than $10 million. Aside from Tucker at $9.5 million, the highest contract was only $5 million for Nunn. But there is another person, who has long since retired and will still take $5 million from the Lakers next season.
This man is Rohr Deng. He was a former All-Star, the league's top forward who was once selected for the best defensive team second team, a master of scoring 47 points in a single game, and a tough player who received praise from the outside world for defending James in the playoffs, but because of the Cruciate ligament injury, Deng's recognition was declining.
In 2013-14, Deng averaged a career-high 19 points and 3.7 assists, plus 6.9 rebounds, but that still didn't get recognition from the Bulls. After several failed talks with the Bulls to renew his contract, Deng was eventually traded by the Bulls to the Cavaliers. The Bulls did this because Deng's contract expired at the end of the 2013-14 season, and they were reluctant to give Deng a big contract for 4-5 years with an annual salary of about $12 million. In order to avoid letting Deng go in vain, the Bulls chose to trade him in advance.
After this transaction, Deng never returned to the peak. At the Cavaliers, he averaged 14.3 points and 5.1 rebounds per game. At that time, the Cavaliers were still led by Irving alone, and James did not return. At the end of the season, Deng chose to leave, and finally joined the Heat, which needed to fill the gap in James, for two years, but the annual salary was always around 10 million, the contract was not long, and he never got the contract he had longed to get in the bulls' last season.
It wasn't until the Lakers generously handed out big deals in the summer of 2016. That summer, the Lakers made very little money in the free market, and they first signed Deng with a big contract of 4 years and 72 million US dollars, and then signed Mozgov with a big contract, which is a typical money with nowhere to spend. Deng got the big contract he wanted, but at the same time, his career was on the verge of coming to an end.
With "Magic" Johnson becoming the president of lakers basketball operations in February 2017, the Lakers began to vigorously cultivate young players, and Deng was gradually weakened by playing time. In the two seasons he played for the Lakers, he played 56 games and 1 game respectively, and was "pensioned" by the Lakers with high salaries.
In September 2018, Deng and the Lakers reached a buyout agreement and were cut, and the contract was settled on a deferred payment. For years to come, Deng will get a $5 million contract from the Lakers until the end of the 2021-22 season. After being cut by the Lakers, Deng joined the Timberwolves, and throughout the season, he played in 22 games, averaging 7.1 points and 3.3 rebounds per game. After playing the season, Deng went to great significance, and after signing a one-day contract with his old club Bulls, he chose to retire and ended his career in October 2019.
But because the Lakers postponed the payment of the contract after the contract was bought out, Deng can still get a pre-tax salary of $5 million next season after retiring for two years. And this contract is basically equal to the sum of Anthony and Howard. Next season, both Anthony and Howard's salaries are $2.64 million before taxes.
Fortunately, next season is Deng's last year of contract, and the Lakers can finally no longer pay Deng who does not have to play after next season.
As for Deng, although he has long retired, he has been investing outside the market all these years and has a good vision. Through the investment in real estate, his assets surpassed Wade, Durant, Harden, Yao Ming and other superstars in 2020, reaching $200 million. So, for him, $5 million or pre-tax may be a dime a dozen, but for the Lakers, it's that they're paying for their previous mistakes.