Lakers head coach Luke Walton said Sunday that Deng will be a fixture on the inactive list this season, Bill Oram of The Orange County Register reports. "As of now, [Deng's] not in the rotation as far as consistently penciled in without something happening," Walton said.

EDGE Analysis

Deng logged 13 minutes in the season opener as a replacement starter for the suspended Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but the veteran forward has failed to get off the bench the last two games. That was often the case in the second half of the 2016-17 campaign when Walton cleared the way for the team's younger players to pick up minutes, and it appears Deng will continue to remain marginalized while Brandon Ingram, Larry Nance, Julius Randle and Kyle Kuzma see the bulk of the run at either forward spot. With Deng barely into the second year of the four-year, $72 million pact he signed last July, the Lakers probably won't be able to find a trading partner willing to pick up the remainder of his massive contract.