Lakers Targeting Knicks Center After Blockbuster Trade

There may be no Hollywood ending in sight for the Los Angeles Lakers' wheeling and dealing and their next act may involve the New York Knicks.

Per NBA insider Kevin O'Connor of Yahoo! Sports, the Lakers may give the Knicks a call about tenured center Mitchell Robinson. Los Angeles, of course, is fresh off the jaw-dropping acquisition of former Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic, a deal reported just about an hour after they finished off a 128-112 victory over the Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

“League sources say the Lakers are looking for a big man and Mitchell Robinson from the New York Knicks is one of the bigs they are targeting," O'Connor said on his self-titled podcast. "That’s what I’m hearing in the aftermath so far, after that absolutely nuts Lakers-Mavericks-Jazz trade that happened in the wee hours on Saturday into Sunday.”

While trading for Doncic has created a palpable amount of hype for the present and future of the purple and gold, the deal forced them to send away top interior threat Anthony Davis. While Davis' injury history is well-documented (he missed Saturday's game due to an abdominal strain), he was frequently praised by LeBron James, especially after the two collaborated on a 2020 championship inside the Walt Disney World bubble.

The Lakers are thus looking for assistance in the interior. Jaxson Hayes took over Davis' spot on Saturday and figures to be their lead paint contributor unless Los Angeles finds a new name by Thursday's trade deadline.

Set to enter his seventh NBA season, Robinson has yet to take the floor this year due to lingering ankle issues that ate away at his 2023-24 campaign. He is the longest-tenured Knicks on the active roster and his metropolitan fate has lingered as a talking point since opening night.

Though it's unlikely that Robinson will play before the trade deadline, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau revealed that he had reached a medical landmark prior to Saturday's game, hinting that he'd soon be ready for physical contact that has become his trademark since joining the Knicks in 2018.

“Everything has gone very smoothly in terms of the rehab. So the next step will be the clearance for regular contact,” Thibodeau said in the lead-up to the anticipated interconference tilt, per Peter Botte of the New York Post. “The controlled contact, you know what’s coming. So you can brace yourself for it. So once you get out of that, where you’re just playing and reacting, that will be the next step. He’s pretty close.”

The Knicks return to action on Monday night when they face the Houston Rockets (7:30 p.m. ET, MSG/NBA TV).

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