Heat. He had his best scoring game of the 2014–15 season on 20 January, when he scored 29 points against the Philadelphia 76ers. Deng finished the season averaging 14 points and 5.2 rebounds per game. On 29 June 2015, Deng exercised his player option for the 2015–16 season. On 1 August 2015, Deng played for Team Africa at the 2015 NBA Africa exhibition game. In late November and early December 2015, Deng missed six games with a left hamstring strain. On 19 February 2016, he scored a season-high 30 points in a 115–111 win over the Atlanta Hawks. The Heat finished the regular season as the third seed in the Eastern Conference with a 48–34 record. In the first round of the playoffs, the Heat faced the sixth-seeded Charlotte Hornets, and in a Game 1 win on 17 April, Deng set a Heat playoff debut record with 31 points on 11-for-13 shooting. Los Angeles Lakers (2016–2018) On 7 July 2016, Deng signed a four-year, $72 million contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers signed the two-time All-Star along with Timofey Mozgov to big contracts in a bid to remain competitive after Kobe Bryant's recent retirement. However, in February 2017, Magic Johnson became the Lakers' president of basketball operations, and coach Luke Walton benched Deng to start rookie Brandon Ingram. Effectively, Deng had played his last meaningful minutes as a Laker. He missed the final 22 games of the season after being shut down in March to give more playing time to the team's youngsters. On opening night of the 2017–18 season, Deng made a substitute start in place of a suspended Kentavious Caldwell-Pope; it was the only game he played the entire season. He and Walton mutually decided that it was better for him to stay in the locker room during games than to play meaningless minutes in garbage time. On September 1, 2018, he was waived by the Lakers after reaching a buyout agreement. The move freed him to find playing time elsewhere, while the Lakers gained salary cap space to potentially offer a maximum contract to a free agent in 2019. Deng had been the highest-paid Laker in each of his two seasons. Minnesota Timberwolves (2018–2019) On September 10, 2018, Deng signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves, reuniting him with Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson, and head coach Tom Thibodeau. On February 11, 2019, Deng started in