Your Los Angeles Lakers will square off against their two-time NBA Finals foes, the New York Knicks, tonight at Crypto.com Arena. The fun kicks off at 7:30 p.m. PT. 
For the record, they split their two encounters in 1970 (the Knicks won in four games) and ’72 (LA won 4-1, with Wilt Chamberlain finally helping Jerry West earn his only title as a player). But I digress.
Neither the Lakers (15-11) nor the Knicks (14-11) are exactly where they’d want to be at this stage of the 2023-24 NBA season, perhaps, but these two teams represent that rarest of NBA transactional opportunities: clubs who could make a mutually beneficial trade.
Let’s take a look at four intriguing New York players who could be intriguing trade fits for Los Angeles.
I should probaby supply a few caveats: Jalen Brunson, who signed an insanely team-friendly four-year, $104 million deal with the team last summer as a free agent, would absolutely not be traded. Guards Immanuel Quickley and Quentin Grimes, both on great rookie-scale deals, would probably not be moved unless LA was willing to offload Austin Reaves as part of a larger trade.
4. Julius Randle
Randle is probably the Knicks’ second-best player, and he’s on a fairly decent deal (he’s got three years and $76.3 million remaining on it). But he’d be a weird fit to return to the team that drafted him, as he would technically overlap positionally with LeBron James. LA’s All-Star power forward could shift back to small forward, but that would leave the club a bit more vulnerable to both quicker wings and bigger fours, as Randle is a poor defender anyway. That said, with leaders as talented as James and Anthony Davis, and with a player-friendly coach in Darvin Ham, I think Los Angeles could try to make things work. Randle’s passing and floor-spacing could help boost the Lakers’ lackluster offense at least. He’s the most talented player we’ll talk about here, but the least clean fit.
3. Donte DiVincenzo
DiVincenzo has had a sloppy shooting start for the season, but has the outlines of a solid 3-and-D fit off the bench for Los Angeles. DiVincenzo was even recently promoted to New York’s starting two-guard gig over Quentin Grimes, and it seems like he’ll stick, for now. He’d help LA address its shooting while not losing much on the defensive end, and would essentially be a stabilizing upgrade over the more raw Max Christie.
2. R.J. Barrett
Barrett, a big, lengthy small forward with room to grow on both ends, is a bit pricey. This would sort of be contingent on the Lakers’ internal valuation of his future equity.
1. Josh Hart
Hart is essentially a better, bigger, more versatile DiVincenzo. Although he’s another 3-and-D bench energy guy, I could also see him replacing Cam Reddish or Taurean Prince from among the Lakers’ starting lineup, as he’s got a bit more of a handle and, though smaller, remains fairly switchy on D.
Leave a Reply