Disappointment is only natural when your team enters the offseason with hopes of signing Kevin Durant, but spends $136 million on Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov instead.

For four years, the Lakers have struggled to adjust their expectations to match their reality. Finally, they seem to be getting it. Because the crazy thing is not shelling out that much money for those players, it’s believing they had better options.

Yes, they spent too much: $64 million for Mozgov, who played less than four minutes per game in the NBA Finals, and $72 million for Deng, 31, who is on the late edge of his prime, if not past it.

However, the cruel truth is that without the Lakers offering more money than other suitors, free agents have no incentive to join a young, unproven roster.

Brandon Ingram, D’Angelo Russell, Julius Randle and Jordan Clarkson might in fact become stars, but they are not there yet. None of them has played more than two years in the NBA. And even though Clarkson just landed a payday of his own with a four-year, $50 million pact, he is not yet a veteran nor a leader.

The Lakers core of young players need grooming and guidance. And time. They need veterans to occasionally take the load off their shoulders.

Mozgov is known as a positive locker room influence wherever he has played, and, minimal participant or not, he’s coming off a championship run with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Deng, by all accounts, is one of the NBA’s best citizens; a philanthropist and admired teammate. On Twitter, Dwyane Wade called Deng one of his “all-time favorite teammates.”

Without Deng and Mozgov, the Lakers’ veteran leadership consisted of Lou Williams. Great scorer, but more of a playboy than a mentor.

The Lakers are paying a premium to establish structure around their young core. What they hope sprouts from that is a culture that will one day soon attract the elite free agents who have eluded them for the past four summers.

This free agent class only had one franchise-defining player, and we knew before July 1 that Durant wasn’t coming to L.A. At least not to play for the Lakers.

It got worse from there, with second-tier stars like Chandler Parsons, Al Horford and Nicolas Batum entertaining other offers but ignoring the Lakers.

The contracts for Mozgov and Deng are big and scary and somewhat limit the Lakers’ spending power next summer, when the salary cap will spike yet again.

The Lakers could have followed the path of recent summers and opted for short-term contracts for lesser players.

But to what end?

The NBA’s biggest stars have not wanted the Lakers’ money. They want to see structure and stability and a foundation.

The Lakers have not had that for several years.

This weekend was a start. A very expensive first move after years of spinning their wheels.

Contact the writer: boram@ocregister.com