Could the Lakers finally pull off a trade for Cam Reddish?

Dec 7, 2022 - 9:39 PM

In recent seasons, the Lakers have done a great job of pinpointing talent they feel might be under-utilized or miscast in their roles, brought them to Los Angeles and watched them flourish. Malik Monk is the shining example while Lonnie Walker IV is the most recent one.

That perhaps explains the team’s oddly constant pursuit of Cam Reddish in recent seasons and it could serve as reason to believe the Lakers could pursue him again in the coming days and weeks. Reddish has had an up-and-down NBA career with his tenure with the Knicks being a microcosm of that.

After falling out of the rotation and being a healthy scratch from the rotation recently, the Knicks and Reddish are reportedly set to look for a new team for the wing, according to Stefan Bondy of the NY Daily News.

Less than a year after acquiring Cam Reddish for a first-round pick, the Knicks still don’t have a role for the young wing and are working with his representatives on a trade, a source told the Daily News.

Similarly, Fred Katz of The Athletic reported that the Knicks are willing to attach Reddish to Evan Fournier in hopes of offloading the latter. Clearly, Reddish is on the outs with the franchise.

This comes amidst another frustrating season in New York where he’s averaging 8.4 points on 44.9% shooting from the field and 30.4% shooting from the 3-point line. And even that is an improvement on the half-season he spent with the franchise last season. Over 35 games with the Knicks, he’s shooting 28.7% from range and averaging 7.4 points.

Why would the Lakers be interested in a player like this? While neither Walker IV or Monk struggled quite to the level Reddish has, they fit the bill of athletic guards/wings who had plenty of potential coming out of college but haven’t been able to harness that in the pros.

On top of that, they’ve chased Reddish multiple times. First, before he was dealt to the Knicks from the Hawks, the Lakers tried to land him via a couple of second-round picks. Then, even after he was dealt to New York, the Lakers nearly completed a deal that would have involved Talen Horton-Tucker but had it fall through.

Reddish is set to his restricted free agency this offseason which should mean he’d come at a cheap price in a trade. A half-year rental of a player that has woefully underperformed should not come at a steep price and could be the chance for the Lakers to take another swing on a player and, this time, reap the benefits if they do pan out.

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