The Los Angeles Lakers won't likely give out their assets come the 2018 NBA Draft. Instead, they will save these pieces in preparation for a possible Luol Deng trade.

As reported by Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders, the Lakers might need these assets to themselves get out of Deng's hefty deal.

To recall, Deng signed a four-year, guaranteed $72 million in 2016. He was poised to be the big star for the Lakers after the great Kobe Bryant retired. But management suddenly took a turn away from Deng. Instead of playing him, the team opted to tank and give him a mentorship role.

As reported by Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times, Deng said that his current place with the Lakers is not really the best situation for him:

“It sucks,” Deng said. “It's hard.”

“I know what people are thinking,” Deng said. “They're thinking, ‘Yeah, he's not playing, but he's making all this money' … and I would be thinking the same thing.”

“I've never before seen a guy brought over to make a change, but then there was a different change. I had no idea I wasn't going to be part of the plan.”

Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka understands what Deng is going through. He had nothing but praise for Deng, saying that the 33-year-old's professionalism is a win for both parties:

“It's important to add this, I mean, Luol has been an unbelievable professional and has stayed very positive,” Pelinka said. “He understands the situation, and at some point, we'll figure out a way to resolve that — that's a win for him and us.”