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On Thursday, word broke of a rather surprising trade involving the Lakers and Cavaliers that would send Rajon Rondo to Cleveland, as the Cavs sought out a veteran point guard after Ricky Rubio suffered a season-ending knee injury and Collin Sexton is likewise out for the year.
For the last four days the two sides have been working on the specifics of the deal, namely trying to find a third team that could take Denzel Valentine so the Lakers could open up a roster spot and avoid having to pay additional luxury tax. On Monday, they found that team in the form of the New York Knicks, who will send a pair of draft-rights to the Lakers and get $1.1 million for their troubles.
The Los Angeles Lakers are finalizing trading Denzel Valentine to the New York Knicks as part of what is now a three-team deal sending Rajon Rondo to the Cleveland Cavaliers, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 3, 2022
Knicks are acquiring Denzel Valentine in a three-way deal with Lakers and Cavs for $1.1M, two draft-rights players for the draft rights to Louis Labeyrie, sources tell ESPN. Knicks will make a decision today on keeping Valentine or providing him opportunity to sign elsewhere.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 3, 2022
The Knicks saved the Lakers approximately $4M in salary and luxury tax — and give LA the open roster spot that they wanted with the Rondo deal. Adding Valentine to deal gets his entire salary and tax off LA’s books. https://t.co/g7x5Leb2ui
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 3, 2022
As Woj notes, this is about saving luxury tax for the Lakers as they’ll avoid having to pay to cut Valentine and create that extra roster spot, which would add $4 million to their tax bill, which is why they were happy to send $1.1 million to New York to do it instead. The Lakers will now be able to be players on the buyout market next month once the trade deadline passes, or be able to take in one more player than they send out in a trade should they find one before the deadline. The Cavs get point guard help, but it remains to be seen if Rondo has much left in the tank to help a team.
