3 trades that could bring Bojan Bogdanovic to the Los Angeles Lakers
By Jason Reed
2. Lakers get the Knicks involved
Interest in Bogdanovic was not the only thing that Shams reported on Monday. The NBA insider also reported that the Lakers have discussed trade concepts around New York’s Cam Reddish and Evan Fournier.
Reddish has been axed from the Knicks’ rotation and it is inevitable that he will be traded at some point this season. The Knicks would also like to get out from under Fournier’s multi-year deal as he has not been what the team signed up for.
Los Angeles could do a similar trade as the Bogdanovic one with the Knicks, trading expiring contracts and a second-round pick to New York for Fournier and Reddish. The Knicks aren’t getting great players in return but they are getting the financial freedom of getting expiring deals for Fournier’s multi-year deal. That is where the real value lies.
This trade would keep Los Angeles from trading a first-round pick but they would get a worse player as a result. Instead, the Lakers could try and reroute Fournier to Detroit with a first-round pick to bring Bogdanovic to LA.
The Knicks still accomplish their goal of freeing up salary and the Pistons still get a valuable first-round pick for Bogdanovic. Perhaps the Lakers would loosen the protections if Detroit agrees to take on Fournier’s multi-year deal.
The Pistons certainly can afford to take on Fournier for two more seasons after the 2022-23 season and they could view this as an opportunity. They are not trying to be good anyway, so they can give Fournier plenty of runway to potentially build up his trade value. In a perfect world, Detroit could then flip him in the offseason for more assets.