Pursue Secondary Depth From Knicks For Westbrook
The Rockets are one of the only teams in the league that can absorb Russell Westbrook’s contract by moving John Wall in the process, but the Knicks are one of the other few teams that could make a trade for Westbrook work out financially.
The Knicks are projected to have plenty of space before reaching the tax line for next season as they enter the offseason and New York als has plenty of moveable contracts on their roster.
Evan Fournier ($18 million), Derrick Rose ($14.5 million), Alec Burks ($10 million), Nerlens Noel ($9.2 million) and Kemba Walker ($9.1 million) will all be on the trade block in the offseason and a handful of these guys could be move by the Knicks for Russell Westbrook.
So why would the Knicks even want the headache of dealing with Russell Westbrook and his contract though?
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New York has really struggled this season and with them expected to miss the playoffs just one year after claiming the 4-seed in the Eastern Conference, they will need to hit the drawing boards to try and find superstar talents to build around moving forward.
With no major names available for them to pursue in free agency this upcoming offseason, the Knicks could turn their attention to having a ton of cap space to play with following the 2022-23 season, hence why taking on the final year of Russell Westbrook’s contract could make sense.
The worst that happens for the Knicks is that they still lose with Russell Westbrook, but they do need a point guard and maybe Westbrook could work out next to Randle and Barrett.
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As for the Lakers, bringing back Evan Fournier, Kemba Walker and Alec Burks in a trade not only saves them money in luxury taxes, but they would be getting three key secondary talents to expand the depth that is non-extant on their roster.
Trading Russell Westbrook to the Knicks is the best case scenario for the Lakers in the offseason because of the pieces they can get in return, but it is unlikely that New York would look to make this deal.