Luol Deng wants to leave the Lakers: The only answer for me now is to prove myself away from L.A.

Luol Deng is out of the rotations of coach Luke Walton and would love to leave the Lakers. Deng has two years remaining on his contract with Los Angeles at $36 million.

Per ESPN, "It definitely hurts," Deng told ESPN on Monday after the Lakers' practiced. "But the only answer for me now is to prove myself away from L.A. I'm not asked to play, I'm not in the rotation, so I can't prove myself here.
"Most of these young guys don't understand the business of basketball, so if I come in here and I'm angry every day, I'm taking something away from them. I have to be smiling, I have to be in the best mood I can be in, because they're living their dream of being an NBA player."
Deng said he understood where Walton was coming from, but it was difficult to hear after working all summer to atone for what he felt was simply a bad year all around last season.
"You spend the whole summer like, trying to come back for the city, for the team, to prove that it was just one bad year. But the opportunity's not there," Deng said. "I know I make a lot of money, but for me -- I came from nothing so it's always been about the love of the game.