Report: Lakers ‘aggressive’ in pursuit of Cam Reddish in 3-way deal with Knicks, Raptors, would also get Alec Burks

The Los Angeles Lakers may finally be starting to get traction on a deal for their oft-downplayed trade package of Talen Horton-Tucker and Kendrick Nunn. According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the team is currently discussing a three-way trade with the New York Knicks and Toronto Raptors that would see them acquire Cam Reddish and Alec Burks at Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.

Scotto reported that it’s not clear if Nunn is involved yet, but tweeted out the framework currently being discussed:

However, this deal construction may be dead in the water as of Thursday morning, as Dragic has been dealt to the San Antonio Spurs:

But Scotto’s original scoop came on the heels of Jake Fischer of Bleacher Report tying Horton-Tucker to the Raptors earlier in the night during a Spotify Green Room chat ($$$) with veteran NBA insider Marc Stein (emphasis mine):

“I do think they will move Talen Horton-Tucker. His name has just been offered up pretty much everywhere, right? There definitely was a conversation there with Toronto as well, from everything I’ve heard.”

On Thursday morning, Scotto followed up with a few more details:

With New York trading away three rotation players in the proposal, one potential hangup in the trade discussion centers on the draft pick compensation for the Knicks. Toronto discussed sending a first-round pick, and the Lakers discussed sending a second-round pick to the Knicks, HoopsHype has learned. As conversations continued, the Knicks sought additional draft compensation.

Perhaps related to those ongoing draft compensation discussions, Knicks reporter Ian Begley of SNY reported that “not much progress had been made toward a deal,” although he also added that the Lakers apparently really want Reddish:

The Los Angeles Lakers have been aggressive in their pursuit of Cam Reddish as the trade deadline approaches, and members of the Knicks organization have been doing their due diligence on Goran Dragic as the teams talk about potential trades, per SNY sources.

One deal that had been discussed leading up to Thursday was a three-team trade involving Nerlens Noel and Talen Horton-Tucker to the Toronto Raptors, Reddish and Alec Burks to Los Angeles, and Dragic and draft compensation to New York, SNY sources confirm.

As of Thursday morning, not much progress had been made toward a deal, per an SNY source. The situation is fluid through 3 p.m.

(Editor’s Note: He means Eastern time. The trade deadline is still 12 p.m. PT)

Fischer had also clarified that the deal was not thought to be serious yet, but Scotto’s report with such specific terms seemed to indicate it was at the very least slowly gaining traction. And after last year, we already know that the Raptors like THT.

For the Lakers, this would seem to be a solid move that splits the difference in their goals, allowing them to not punt on the season entirely, but also not mortgage their future completely to try and salvage this thing by throwing in their 2027 first-round pick, something they’re reportedly loathe to do.

In Reddish, they would get a relatively promising, 22-year-old wing prospect — and replacement Klutch client — who has shown a bit more on bigger stages than Horton-Tucker, and Burks would give the team a 6’6 wing who is shooting 38.8% on triples this year. Neither player is fixing this mess on their own, but both would be a step in the right direction towards making this roster make a bit more sense, and seemingly wouldn’t require a first-round pick to get. So that’s something as the team looks to balance out this mismatched group.

We’ll see if the Lakers can still get anything done for these guys with Dragic now unavailable for inclusion, but would you like this move? Would you rather keep THT? Let us know in the comments below, and to keep up with all the latest reports before the deadline, check out our 2022 Lakers trade rumors tracker.

This breaking news story may update with more information and analysis as it continues to develop. For more Lakers talk, subscribe to the Silver Screen and Roll podcast feed on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Podcasts. You can follow Harrison on Twitter at @hmfaigen.