Photo Credit: Ron Jenkins / Associated Press
Luol Deng Has The Best Contract In The League; Earns $1,3 Million Per Minute Played
Luol Deng is a 13-year NBA veteran, he’s a two time All-Star, and was part of an NBA All-Defensive team in 2012. Unfortunately for him, his best days of his professional career are behind him, yet he still has the best contract in the entire NBA. Well, at least if we compare the salary to the minutes played.
On July 7, 2016, Deng signed a four-year, $72 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, who wanted to add Deng’s veteran skills in an attempt to stay competitive after Kobe Bryant’s retirement.
When the Lakers went through some front office changes, Deng basically lost his role on the team, because Magic Johnson wanted to give the majority of playing time to the team’s younger players.
Then, this season, Deng played the Lakers’ first game of the season. He came off the bench, playing 13 minutes, while scoring two points and adding one assist. These 13 minutes were the last minutes Deng played this season. Not because of an injury, but because Deng and coach Luke Walton decided that it would be better to basically be deactivated than playing some garbage-time minutes every other game.
This season, Deng is earning $17 million. He played a total of 13 minutes. That equals around $1,307,692 per minute played. In other words, Deng basically gets paid $17 million a year to sit courtside at every Laker game. Certainly not the worst thing in the league.
