NBA Mock Trade: Thunder Acquire Cam Reddish from Knicks
In this story:
At 6-foot-8, Knicks forward Cam Reddish is one of the more intriguing prospects on the trade block.
Per The Athletic’s Fred Katz report, among others, New York and Reddish are working towards a trade, meaning the 23-year-old former Duke product is likely to see a third team in his four-year career.
Reddish has averaged 10.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.0 steals in just 24.5 minutes per game for his career. Drafted 10th overall in 2019 to Atlanta, it’s safe to say Reddish's career hasn’t started out the way he wanted. But it isn’t time to give up just yet.
Enter Oklahoma City.
With an unprecedented amount of assets and, potentially more importantly, an incoming unrestricted free agent in Darius Bazley, Reddish could be a target for OKC. Due to much-needed internal development, Bazley hasn’t gotten the time he likely deserves this season after being the final pre-rebuild pick for OKC. And a new destination is likely on the horizon for the young, defensive-minded forward.
Here's what a trade between New York and OKC could look like:
Oklahoma City Thunder get: Cam Reddish
New York Knicks get: Darius Bazley
The Knicks would like to move off guard Evan Fournier in exchange for one of their middle-tier players, but that won’t be in the cards for Thunder general manager Sam Presti, who wants to keep as much flexibility as possible before hitting the ‘go’ button on the rebuild.
I’d wager Bazley has slightly more trade value, but it isn’t by much. Presti has pulled the unrestricted swap before (see Hamidou Diallo and Svi Mykhailiuk) and it wouldn’t be unsurprising to see it again here.
Trade players, evaluate the incoming player until their deal expires and offer accordingly. New York could pull the same move. And probably stands to benefit even more from Bazley’s staunch perimeter defense than OKC could any of Reddish’s attributes.
In the very least, it opens up even more minutes for the young Thunder squad.
Want to join the discussion? Like SI Thunder on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Thunder news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.
