Report: Knicks one of most active teams on NBA trade market

The Lakers have been the headliner when it comes to early NBA trade activity for obvious reasons: Their team is 11-16, far from the win-now model they should have with LeBron James turning 38 in a couple of weeks. They need to make a move.

Another team very active early? The New York Knicks, reports Jake Fischer at Yahoo Sports.

The Knicks, along with the Lakers and Rockets, have been described by league personnel as one of the more active teams in early trade conversations. New York has made plenty of its roster available for discussion, particularly Evan Fournier, Derrick Rose, Cam Reddish and Immanuel Quickley, sources said. The Knicks are working with Reddish’s representatives to find him a new home, and there have indeed been conversations about rerouting him and Fournier to Los Angeles, sources said.

The names in question are not new, but the level of urgency and effort from the Knicks is interesting (the report said the Knicks wanted to get a deal done before Dec. 9, allowing them to combine the salary of any player coming in as part of a trade at the deadline, but no agreement was reached).

The Knicks reportedly have interest in Eric Gordon of the Rockets, but his asking price has long been a first-round pick, and the Knicks did not meet that demand. The Lakers’ interest in Reddish is known. How much interest the Lakers would have in Fournier — a player outside the Knicks’ rotation who is owed a fully-guaranteed $18.9 million next season (eating into the cap space the Lakers have protected so far) — is up for debate. To put it kindly.

NBA trade season officially got serious on Thursday, Dec. 15, when most of the players signed over the summer became eligible to be traded. That doesn’t mean expect a flurry of activity; it’s more likely it will be closer to the Feb. 9 trade deadline when we see moves. But the run-up to that date is in full swing now, and the Knicks are one of the leaders of the pack.