2 ways the Los Angeles Lakers can trade for Cam Reddish
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers are currently trying to pull off a trade with major implications for next season as Russell Westbrook is undoubtedly being shopped. The ceiling of the team next season directly correlates to whatever happens with Westbrook.
As the team showed with the Patrick Beverley trade, there are other moves that the front office can make with certain players to target. One of those players is young New York Knicks forward, Cam Reddish.
There was speculation that Reddish is looking for a fresh start away from the Knicks and the Lakers have been tied to Reddish in the past. Reddish is still only 23 years old and has potential as a three and D wing that can do things similarly to Kyle Kuzma when he was on the team before being traded.
Reddish was theorized to be thrown into a potential Donovan Mitchell three-team trade with the Knicks and Utah Jazz but that is ultimately off the table. Now, there are two different ways the Lakers can potentially trade for Reddish this offseason.
The 2 ways the Los Angeles Lakers can trade for Cam Reddish:
1. As part of a Russell Westbrook trade
There is still potential for the Los Angeles Lakers to do business with the Knicks for Russell Westbrook. It all depends on how the Knicks view their team for the 2022-23 season and how badly they potentially want to get off of Julius Randle and Evan Fournier’s contract.
If the Knicks are operating with the intent of freeing up that money and realize that they are not going to contend this season then trading Randle and Fournier for Westbrook and picks is the best thing for the long-term future of the team.
If that happens, Los Angeles could also ask for the Knicks to throw in the young Reddish to at least compensate the Lakers some for the draft picks being sent. It is not like Reddish plays much of a role in New York anyways, so the Knicks should definitely oblige.
2. Trading Kendrick Nunn and a future second
The only other way the Los Angeles Lakers can trade for Cam Reddish is to trade Kendrick Nunn and the team likely is not going to do that. First of all, because of the salary-cap situation the Lakers are in, the team has to trade someone who makes very close to what Reddish makes.
The only two players on the team that have contracts that fit that billing are Nunn and Lonnie Walker IV. However, Walker cannot be traded until late September and the Lakers likely would not trade someone they just signed anyway.
Perhaps LA could do this if there are reservations about Nunn’s health and the Knicks would take this deal just for the second-round pick. Again, Reddish does not have much of a role there and Nunn isn’t the reason they do this trade.
But this would be a bold risk for LA. Nunn is young and is more established than Reddish at this point. However, he does have injury concerns and the best version of Reddish next year is the best version of Nunn.