Jeanie Buss and the Los Angeles Lakers have spent more than $115 million on former Miami Heat players. In the last eight years, the Purple and Gold signed three different ex-Heat players to lucrative contracts, all of which ultimately proved to be disastrous.
Luol Deng signed a $72 million, 4-year contract but only played 57 games for the Lakers from 2016 to 2018.
Kendrick Nunn signed for $10 million over 10 years but played just 39 games in 2022-2023.
Gabe Vincent signed for $33 million over 10 years but played only 5 games in 2023-2024.
While Jeanie Buss has received praise for her leadership of the Lakers, there have been challenging moments during her tenure. Several years ago, when the team was struggling, Buss made some questionable decisions that led to criticism. The numbers from that time period reflect the difficulties the team faced under her leadership.
One of the biggest issues for the Lakers has been their decision-making, resulting in some of the NBA’s worst contracts. Before LeBron James arrived in 2018, the franchise lacked a clear vision and direction for team-building. They hampered their own progress by offering costly, long-term deals to players such as Timofey Mozgov and Nick Young.
Interestingly, the Lakers have shown a tendency to target former Miami Heat players, with Gabe Vincent being their latest acquisition from that team. However, after Vincent missed much of this season, the Lakers may have finally realized the need to avoid deals involving Miami players.
The Lakers were disappointed by all three former Miami Heat players.
The Miami Heat have a knack for maximizing their players’ potential, often leading other teams to overestimate the transferability of that success. The Lakers have repeatedly fallen into this trap, resulting in costly mistakes.
Luol Deng’s 4-year, $72 million contract with the Lakers stands out as a prime example of this trend. After a solid season with the Heat in 2015-16, averaging 12.3 points per game, the Lakers signed him to a lucrative deal.
However, Deng’s performance with the Lakers was disappointing, averaging just 7.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game on 38% shooting over 57 games before falling out of the rotation.
Kendrick Nunn was another former Heat player signed by the Lakers with hopes of bolstering their backcourt. However, Nunn’s impact was minimal, playing less than half a season and averaging just 6.7 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per game on 40% shooting.
Gabe Vincent is the latest example of the Lakers’ struggles with former Heat players, averaging just 5.4 points and 3.0 assists per game in five appearances this season. Despite these setbacks, the Lakers seem unable to avoid bad contracts, raising questions about who might be the next Heat player to disappoint in Los Angeles.
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