Knicks and Lakers discussed three-team trade involving Cam Reddish and Goran Dragic

The Los Angeles Lakers have been aggressive in their pursuit of Cam Reddish as the trade deadline approaches, and members of the Knicks organization had been doing their due diligence on Goran Dragic as the teams talked 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, and shortly before 12 p.m., news broke that the Toronto Raptors were trading Dragic to the San Antonio Spurs,

The Knicks, as SNY reported Wednesday, hadn’t totally shut down talks of including Reddish in a trade this week.

Los Angeles has been among the suitors for Reddish.

The Knicks traded a 2022 first-round pick and Kevin Knox to the Atlanta Hawks for Reddish last month.

Trade rules prevent New York from aggregating Reddish’s salary in a bigger deal. He would have to be moved in a trade that matched his own salary, which could be accomplished by adding another player to the deal.

Earlier this month, the Knicks had also been looking for ways to open up a rotation spot for Reddish via trade.

Reddish had played a total of 20 minutes in the first seven games in which he was medically cleared to participate. In the last two games, he played a total of 27 minutes as Quentin Grimes has been sidelined with an injury.

So why would the Knicks want to open up a roster spot for Reddish but also talk about potential trades of Reddish ahead of the deadline?

My best guess here is that New York is considering multiple trade options ahead of the deadline.

The trade above would shed the future salary of Noel and Burks and provide the Knicks salary flexibility because Dragic’s contract is expiring.

If the Knicks can create enough cap space for the 2022 summer, I’d expect the club to at least consider pursuing Jalen Brunson of the Dallas Mavericks in free agency.

The framework of the Knicks-Lakers-Raptors deal was first reported by HoopsHype.