Bill Plaschke: The Laker they can't trade can only pretend to play
LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Lakers' Nowhere Man plays games nobody sees, on a court that doesn't exist, in a world nobody understands.
Before every Lakers game at Staples Center this season, Luol Deng shows up on time, sits in front of his corner locker, talks strategy, tells jokes, full of life, the picture of health, preparing as if he is going to play.
But he won't play. He won't sit on the bench. He won't even step on the court. The uniform that hangs crisply and tauntingly in his locker will remain untouched; he instead wears the baggy sweats of one who never leaves the house.
When the Lakers run out for the game, their Nowhere Man retires to a training room to pretend.
Deng watches the game on television and imitates its flow. When there's action, he runs on
