Dalton Knecht is now a Knick. ESPN reported the two-way deal on Friday, which leaves Jaden Hardy as the Lakers’ last spare salary. In a trade idea published Oct. 20, Heavy’s Sai Mohan proposed using Hardy for the backup center the Lakers still lack: the Lakers would receive Jalen Smith, and the Bulls would receive Hardy and a 2031 second-round pick (via Washington). The deal is legal, it can be made today and it would help the Lakers. It still won’t happen at this price.
The Money Works and the Calendar Isn’t a Problem
Hardy can be traded right now. The Dec. 15 freeze applies to offseason free-agent signings, and Hardy arrived by trade. The Lakers sent Deandre Ayton to the Washington Wizards for Hardy and Washington second-round picks in 2031 and 2032, so the 2031 pick in this proposal belongs to the Lakers.
The salaries work with room to spare. Hardy makes $6 million, and Smith is on an expiring $9,428,571 deal. Because the Lakers sit below the first apron, the expanded traded player exception lets them take back up to 200 percent of outgoing salary plus $250,000 on a deal this size, or $12.25 million against Hardy’s $6 million. Smith fits comfortably inside that.
The tighter limit is the hard cap. The Lakers are hard-capped at the first apron after acquiring Walker Kessler via sign-and-trade, and they sit $8,117,678 below it. Taking on about $3.4 million net leaves them clear. They opened the season roughly $469,000 over the luxury tax line, so this deal adds to a tax bill rather than creating one.
The Roster Hole Is Smaller Than the Proposal Claims
The proposal says the Lakers’ center rotation features only Walker Kessler and Kevon Looney. That leaves out Sandro Mamukelashvili. Spotrac lists him as a center, making $13 million this season on a four-year, $52 million contract, and he’s still under contract.
The need for another big is real. Calling it a “void” overstates it.
Hardy is where the proposal says he is: on the roster and available. The Lakers kept him over Knecht, but “the Lakers are going to be trying to trade Jaden Hardy,” the independent Lakers reporter Jovan Buha said on his show, Buha’s Block.
Only the Lakers Have Shown Interest
The Lakers’ interest in Smith is real, and it isn’t new. In July, The Athletic’s Dan Woike reported that “Smith has some fans within the organization because he plays with motor and has worked himself into a pretty good outside shooter.” Woike also called him expensive and undersized; Smith is listed at 6-9. He added that Chicago’s previous front office liked Smith, which left his availability in doubt.
Nothing has been reported about Chicago wanting Hardy. Heavy’s Sean Deveney reported that there has been interest in Smith, and that the Bulls could cash in on him as the season gets rolling and teams clearly have big-man needs. In the same report, he wrote that the Sixers lost Ariel Hukporti and were immediately connected to Smith.
Chicago doesn’t need to sell yet. Per Deveney, its frontcourt now runs through Nic Claxton, acquired this offseason, alongside Smith and Zach Collins. The Lakers’ own timeline points the same way. Buha said, “I think this is something that is probably going to be resolved closer to the trade deadline, to be completely honest.”
It Would Help, But Chicago Is Being Asked to Take Too Little
On the court, Smith would make the Lakers better. Last season he started 21 of the 53 games he played, putting up 10.2 points and 6.7 rebounds on 48.3/37.3/74.2 shooting splits. A big who can shoot threes is a real asset next to Luka Dončić, and Hardy is behind several guards in the backcourt. That is why Smith has been the one bench trade worth discussing all week.
The Bulls’ side is the problem. For Chicago, this deal turns an expiring stretch big into a backup guard the Lakers are openly shopping, plus a second-round pick five years out. A team that can wait for a market to form doesn’t take that offer in October.
The deal works on paper and fails on the price. Nothing reported suggests either team is negotiating it.
Dec. 15 Changes the Market
The date that matters is Dec. 15. That’s when Collin Sexton and most of the Lakers’ summer free-agent signings become eligible to be traded, which gives the Lakers more salary to work with than a lone Hardy. Every other team with a hole at center gets the same flexibility on the same day. Smith’s price will likely go up from there, and Hardy plus a 2031 second won’t be enough to match it.
Sources: Sai Mohan and Sean Deveney (Heavy), Dan Woike (The Athletic), Jovan Buha (Buha’s Block), Shams Charania (ESPN)
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