NBA Rumors: Lakers, Knicks Talked Patrick Beverley Trade

There have been a lot of rumblings of late of the New York Knicks making several players available in trade, including Evan Fournier, Cam Reddish and others. Coinciding with that, the Los Angeles Lakers have been linked to the Knicks in trade talks. 

According to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype, the Knicks recently offered Fournier to the Lakers for Patrick Beverley and Kendrick Nunn. Both Laker players will be free agents after the season. Beverley, while providing defensive leadership, is having the worst offensive year of his career. 

Those talks didn't go any further, and now the Knicks are trying to package Reddish and Fournier in trade discussions. Shams Charania of The Athletic has pointed to such talks as well. 

A nugget in here, amongst lots of other news: The Lakers and Knicks have "discussed concepts involving New York’s Cam Reddish and Evan Fournier, sources said." https://t.co/cZxOLMoQ4R

— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) December 12, 2022

Additionally, according to Scotto, it should be noted that "the Lakers have checked in several times on the availability of Reddish over the past year." But their reluctance in doing such a deal with the Knicks would be centered around their distaste for taking on Fournier’s contract, which has another $19M to run on it for next season. The Lakers will be looking to free up as much cap space as they can for the offseason—if they can't bring in an impact player this year. Their projected $30M in space would be eaten into considerably by Fournier's contract. 

From the Knicks' side of it, they're happy to wait until the offseason, when Fournier's contract would have more value as an expiring one next year. 

Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports