As the thaw period for freelance players on December 16 this summer approaches, trade rumours of teams have suddenly increased. Among them, the Lakers with high exposure are the most.
News revealed that the Lakers have a strong interest in Simmons of the 76ers and Grant of the Pistons. However, in my opinion, the Lakers have almost no chance of getting two people:
First, both of them are contracts of at least 20 million yuan or more, and it is difficult for the Lakers to match the transaction without dismantling the three giants of James, Thick Eyebrows and Wei Shao;
Second, the Lakers do not have many attractive chips, especially in the first round;
That is to say, in the case of limited chips and basically unable to move the Big Three, star players such as Simmons and Grant are unlikely to get the Lakers. Still, some non-star players are promising.
Take Knicks' Knox, for example.
Because of Randall's rapid growth and the presence of The Scout Barrett, Knox's situation at the Knicks is embarrassing:
First, the opportunity for this performance is gradually reduced. The data shows that the average of 7.3 minutes of playing time and 3.1 shots per game so far this season is a new career low;
Secondly, Knox himself is not angry, and the free throw shooting rate that is almost white this season is only 50%;
Combined with the above two points, with a strong forward line in the team and its own indisputable anger, Knox's irreplaceability in the Knicks is not much. In other words, the value of the transaction will not be too large.
In this regard, in my opinion, the Lakers can almost get this 18-year No. 9 show with one or two second-round picks.
For the Knicks, in the case of little demand for Knox, the draft picks can be used for their own use or secondary transactions. Moreover, it should be noted that Knox, who is in the contract year, has not renewed his contract. In other words, the Knicks will face contract renewal pressure if they do not take the trade.
For the Lakers, although Knox's performance is declining year by year, it is the standard forward figure of 201. That is to say, at least it can make up for the lack of the Lakers' third position. In fact, under the return of Ariza, the Lakers' third position can only rely more on James and Anthony to support, and the two are older, and too much playing time will obviously increase the risk of injury.
Taking a step back, at this stage, the Lakers are in the championship cycle, and the second round of signing is not of much use to the team, but it is not as good as changing the forward players that the team needs.
In this regard, we can understand that the Lakers use the second round pick and the Knicks to trade Knox is to take what they need - the Knicks will replace the players they don't need with draft picks; the Lakers will exchange the unwanted draft picks for the forward players they need.
If the Lakers ended up getting Knox, it seems to me that James and Anthony laughed. This "laugh" refers to two points:
First, how to use the second-round draft pick to change players will promote the team's immediate combat strength, after all, there is one more player for no reason;
Second, as just said Knox is the front, his arrival can reduce the playing time of James and Anthony to a certain extent. In this way, the two can choose to rest off the field at some unnecessary moments, in exchange for reducing the risk of injury;
Combining the two points, the arrival of Knox promotes the team's immediate combat strength, and then reduces the playing time of James and Anthony. How can the two of them not laugh at this look? At least the risk of injury is reduced.