This year's NBA trade deadline could see a rare sight in history, and according to MassLive's Brian Robb, a reporter from MassLive, today, the Los Angeles Lakers have become one of the suitors for Boston Celtics guard Josh Richardson, who has made offers to the Celtics including Tallen Horton Tucker and the 2027 first-round pick. Horton Tucker is now considered a negative asset by the league, so his only role in the deal is to tie the salaries of both sides, so the success of this deal for Richardson will depend entirely on whether the Lakers' unprotected first-round pick in 2027 is enough to pique the Celtics' interest.
Leaving aside the pros and cons of this deal, it is extremely rare for the Lakers and Celtics, two old enemies in the history of the NBA, to cooperate in the trading market. The two teams have only been trading partners three times in history, the most recent of which goes back 18 years to 2004, when the Lakers traded Rick Fox, Gary Payton and a future first-round pick (later became Lajan Rondo) to the Celtics in exchange for Chris Meeme, Chucky Atkins and Jumein Jones, with the other two trades occurring in 1999 and 1977.
One reason the two teams haven't traded in nearly 20 years is that former Celtic general manager Danny Angie went through the pinnacle of the 1980s against the Lakers, and the hatred between the two teams has a long history, and we've even heard that the Celtics competed fiercely with the Lakers simply to make the Lakers lose the chance to get a certain star. But Angie is no longer with the Celtics, making it more likely that the team will strike a deal with the Lakers under new basketball operations president Brad Stevens.