The Los Angeles Lakers Are Officially The Laughingstock Of The NBA

The Los Angeles Lakers made their first big move of their “new era” as free agency opened Thursday night and it was a doozy. They found their center of the future by giving Timofey Mozgov a four-year, $64 million contract.

Timofey Mozgov? Timofey. Freaking. Mozgov. Seriously? That’s the best the Buss family could come up with? With $60 million in cap space, the power of Los Angeles and the Lakers franchise behind them, and the unfortunate spawns of Dr. Jerry Buss could only reel in Timofey Mozgov? I’ve finally found a sentence more embarrassing than, “I spent $80,000 to earn a journalism degree.”

I have been a life-long fan of the Los Angeles Lakers. Don’t hold it against me, I grew up in San Diego as a basketball-playing youngster during the Magic Johnson-James Worthy-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar era. Who was I going to root for, the Clippers? No, I was born and bred a Lakers fan, and I can tell you that I’ve never been so embarrassed for the franchise.

The indignities of the past few offseasons pale in comparison to the Mozgov contract. I could rationalize each of those problems and sleep at night.

Dwight Howard opting to leave in free agency? He’s a chump. LaMarcus Aldridge barely listening to the Lakers pitch last summer? He wanted to go home to Texas. Kevin Durant avoiding a meeting with a franchise that has hung 16 championship banners? He wants to compete now, not build with a young team.

Timofey Mozgov gets $64 million guaranteed from the Lakers? Are you kidding me!?!?!

The 29-year-old Mozgov just finished his sixth season of being a very average NBA center. Nothing in his numbers suggests he deserved more than $10 million per year, yet the Lakers gave him a contract on par with what three-time All-Star John Wall currently plays under.

I truly have no idea what the Lakers saw in Mozgov that warranted giving him a ton of money. During the last 10 games of the 2016 postseason he posted four DNP-CDs. He was a spectator for much of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ run to an NBA title. Hell, in the finals the Cavs might as well have forced him to buy a ticket to the games.

Mozgov played just 17.4 minutes per game during the 2015-16 season, averaging 6.3 points and 4.4 rebounds. His PER was a dismal 14.63 and…you know what? It doesn’t matter. The numbers show exactly what you already know: he’s an average NBA player. No one was going to give him a big-time free agent deal, but the Lakers did. I can usually find the logic in most free agent moves. This one has me stunned.

George Mikan, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal…Timofey Mozgov? Really?