Lakers Reportedly Offered Teams 1st-Round Pick to Take Timofey Mozgov, Luol Deng

The Los Angeles Lakers were reportedly desperate to move Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng.

On Friday, Zach Lowe of ESPN.com reported Los Angeles "dangled an unprotected first-round pick in front of every team with cap room to dump one of the toxic Timofey Mozgov/Luol Deng deals."

Lowe noted Los Angeles ultimately dealt Mozgov and D'Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets after it couldn't find any suitors for the first-round pick.

Mozgov will not be an unrestricted free agent until 2020 and is in the middle of a four-year deal worth $64 million, per Spotrac. Like Mozgov, Deng is not set for free agency until 2020 and is signed to a four-year contract worth $72 million, per Spotrac.

Considering Deng is 32 years old and Mozgov will turn 31 this summer, those are not conducive contracts for a rebuilding club that hasn't made the playoffs the last four seasons. Mozgov can still battle for boards but is often a matchup problem in today's space-oriented NBA, while Deng is well past his prime as a two-time All-Star and previous member of an NBA All-Defensive Team.

Deng is still on the books, but Los Angeles has its eyes on the future after selecting UCLA's Lonzo Ball with the No. 2 overall pick in Thursday's draft. What's more, Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical reported moving Russell and Mozgov was done in part to clear cap space for a run at potential 2018 free agents Paul George and LeBron James.

The return of the Lakers glory days may not be far away if all that happens, which would make failed salary dumps a forgotten detail of the past.