With less than two months to go before the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 20, the Los Angeles Lakers are starting to get mentioned in a new of potential deals that could go down. Although the team seems to be maintaining their stance on not trading Pau Gasol, the rumors continue to swirl about potential deals and free agents targets for the upcoming off-season.
Reportedly, the Lakers are already starting to show interest in bringing in Luol Deng of the Chicago Bulls in free agency over the summer according to Bulls Insider Aggrey Sam of CSNChicago.com:
His upcoming status has resulted in the likes of the Cavaliers, Mavericks, Lakers, Raptors, Spurs, Grizzlies and Nets, among others, already expressing interest in Deng, according to league sources. It doesn’t hurt that Deng, currently sidelined with a left Achilles’ injury that’s caused him to miss seven games this month, is having another stellar campaign, one of three NBA players to average 19 points, seven rebounds and four assists per game (Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant and Minnesota’s Kevin Love are the others) and picking up the Bulls’ scoring burden in the wake of Derrick Rose’s season-ending knee injury.
It comes as no surprise that the Lakers aren’t the only team interested in Deng’s services. Despite having his fair share of injury problems over the years, Deng has been a solid contributor on both ends of the floor for the Bulls and will sign a lucrative deal in the off-season as a result.
With the Bulls seriously considering rebuilding in the wake of another knee injury for Derrick Rose, Deng will likely be on his way out with the Lakers being an attractive option for the veteran small forward. Deng would help improve the team defensively as well as offensively and might be a vital piece to the puzzle in an effort to build a contender around Kobe Bryant once more.
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