While many expect the Los Angeles Lakers to make some fireworks at Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, there hasn’t been much reporting on any established frameworks for deals until now. According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the Lakers are discussing a three-team trade that would see Cam Reddish and Alec Burks arrive in LA while Talen Horton-Tucker would be routed to Toronto.
According to Scotto, the framework of the deal is the following:
Sources: The Lakers, Knicks and Raptors have discussed a 3-team trade.
Lakers get Cam Reddish and Alec Burks.
Knicks get Goran Dragic and draft picks.
Raptors get Talen Horton-Tucker and Nerlens Noel.
There’s also a chance Kendrick Nunn is added to the trade as talks continue
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) February 10, 2022
His reporting indicates that the Lakers would possibly need to give up a second-round pick, while the Raptors would need to give up a first-rounder.
Late last night in a Spotify Greenroom session hosted by Marc Stein, Bleacher Report’s Jake Fischer also indicated the Raptors and Lakers were discussing a trade surrounding Talen Horton-Tucker, further giving credibility to Scotto’s report.
We know that the Raptors have an interest in Horton-Tucker dating back to last season’s trade deadline when he was reportedly a point of contention for a potential Kyle Lowry trade.
On the Lakers side of things, Reddish gives them a potentially high ceiling, defensive wing but the former lottery pick struggled heavily with the Atlanta Hawks this season and has been out of the rotation with the New York Knicks since they acquired him. Burks is a good 3-point shooter and foul-drawer but offers little else.
According to Scotto, the Lakers were turned down by the Raptors in their attempts to acquire Gary Trent, Jr. It was reported in early January that the Lakers had some interest in Trent Jr.
It should be noted that there is a rule in the NBA where a team cannot take a player they traded for 2 months or less ago if they are packaging that player with an additional one. In this case, it would seem the Knicks could only trade Reddish if he was the only player going out or if they were only attaching draft compensation or a player with him, as reported by SNY TV’s Ian Begley:
Trade rules prevent New York from aggregating Reddish’s salary in a bigger deal. He would have to be moved in a trade that matched his own salary, which could be accomplished by adding another player to the deal.
Horton-Tucker and Kendrick Nunn are among the only tradeable assets that the Lakers have that might still have some value across the league. It’s notable that this trade would not include the team’s 2027 first-round pick as it could be used to offload Russell Westbrook’s salary or saved until the summer when their 2029 first round pick becomes available to trade and could be packaged together for a bigger return.
