Los Angeles Lakers: Dennis Schroder trade packages with Knicks and Bulls

The Los Angeles Lakers get a better fit at point guard from New York

It is hard to pull off a sign-and-trade with the New York Knicks as so many of their players are free agents this offseason. The only way to really make it doable is by having the Knicks conduct a sign-and-trade as well.

Again, the Knicks do not even have to do this. They have the cap space to outright sign Schroder if they so please, so it would come down to doing a player on their team a favor by trading him to the Los Angeles Lakers.

This is it. With a ton of cap space, the one way the Lakers might be able to convince the Knicks to do a sign-and-trade is if Derrick Rose wants to be a Laker but the money does not make sense. In this case, Tom Thibodeau would do Rose a favor, which definitely is possible considering their relationship.

If the Knicks are unwilling to do that then there is no reason for them to do a sign-and-trade and hard cap themselves at the tax apron. It would make far more sense to simply sign Schroder.

The big problem with this potential trade is that the Los Angeles Lakers would be overpaying for Derrick Rose. We can assume that Schroder gets a contract with a $20 million salary, which means that the Lakers would have to bring on Rose for similar money.

The one good thing is that Rose is much more likely to take a one-year deal with an elevated salary than Schroder, so the Lakers could theoretically get him at one year, $20 million instead of having to commit $80 million+ to Schroder.

While he would be overpaid by the Lakers, Rose is a much better fit and would have a much bigger impact on the Lakers than Schroder. The Lakers need a second playmaker that can also facilitate. Rose is that guy.

If the Lakers rumors are true about the Knicks being interested, I would much rather see the Lakers overpay Derrick Rose than Dennis Schroder anyway.