It is expected that Luol Deng will be a very hot ticket once free agency begins this summer. The forward is expected to garner a lot of attention this offseason and that only became heightened after he was traded from the Chicago Bulls to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Despite the Cavaliers stating this is not a four month rental project, a number of teams are already expressing their intentions to pursue Deng with big money.
NBA.com's David Aldridge reports the Dallas Mavericks intend to heavily go after Deng with a top-dollar contract. Aldridge writes that if Deng can help rally the Cleveland Cavaliers to a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, he will officially secure himself a max contract with any team. The Mavericks are the likely landing spot considering they are a team with endless amounts of money to spend.
The Cleveland Cavaliers are still sent on attempting to retain Deng. However, he is not the only free agent the team is going after. Marc Spears of Yahoo Sports reports that the Cavaliers will first attempt to bring back LeBron James who is also set to be a free agent before they decide to fate of Deng. General manager Chris Grant has told reporters that he hopes to keep Deng for the long-term but obviously James would be the better signing.
"We're bringing him here and we'd like to keep him here long term," Grant said, via the Cleveland News-Herald. "He's 28 years old. We see him as part of our core and our youth moving forward. We'll get through the season and get into those conversations at the appropriate time."
Deng will be looking for money. Reports surfaced prior to the trade from the Chicago Bulls that Deng requests $15 million per season last offseason while the two sides were attempting to negotiate a contract extension. The Bulls offered a $30 million take-it-or-leave-it deal instead and Deng refused. He later denied requesting that amount of money from the team.
"Three days before the trade, Gar called me upstairs and put three years, $30 million on the table. Take it or leave it. No negotiation. I said no and that was it," Deng said. "But 15? That's the only thing that upset me. I'm not upset with the organization. I want everyone to understand that. If I was a GM, would I make that move? Maybe. I wanted to be in Chicago. I thought I was going to end my career there. Not talking during the summer, did that hurt me? Yeah. And then you come back with 10 (million). Who knows what I would've taken in the summer? That's the part that is really bothering me. Other than that, I have no issues at all."
Fans should not rule out a return to Chicago. The team now has better cap space to sign Deng depending how the rest of the season plays out. For now, the Dallas Mavericks are the first to express interest.
