Lakers Make Deal To Give Knicks 29th Pick

The Lakers need the cash, the Knicks need the players, so it's a win/win.

By KURT HELIN

Updated 12:15 PM PST, Thu, Jun 25, 2009

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No rookie, especially one taken 29th in tonight’s NBA Draft, is going to see the court next season on a stacked Laker roster that just won an NBA title. Especially if the Lakers can reach their goal of resigning both Lamar Odom and Trevor Ariza.

So the Lakers have made a deal to sell the player selected 29th to the New York Knicks for $3 million, according to multiple media reports.

Many of those media reports also have the technicalities of the deal wrong. The Lakers, under NBA rules, cannot sell or trade their pick this year — NBA rules state that teams cannot move their first round pick two years in a row, and the Lakers traded both last year’s first rounder and next year’s to Memphis in the Pau Gasol deal. So the Lakers technically have to pick a player. However, once they select that player they can sell or trade said player’s rights to whomever they want. Consider it the loophole in the law.

Bottom line, with the 29th pick tonight, the Lakers are going to pick someone that within minutes will be a New York Knick. And the Lakers will get $3 million to help pay Ariza and Odom. It’s a win-win all around.

The Lakers have two second round picks, but those are not guaranteed deals. Look for the Lakers to select some European player you have never heard of, a guy who will play a year or two more overseas before coming to Los Angeles for camp to see if he can make the team.

Kurt Helin, in addition to writing for NBCLA.com, was a first round selection of the Lakers blog Forum Blue & Gold.