The Lakers, Knicks, Mavericks, and Suns have officially completed three separate draft-night deals as a single four-team trade, according to press releases from Dallas, Phoenix, and New York.
The full terms of the trade, which involved the 24th, 25th, and 30th picks in the first round of the draft, are as follows, with additional info from Fred Katz of The Athletic (Twitter link):
- Lakers acquire the draft rights to Cameron Carr (No. 24 pick; from Knicks).
- Mavericks acquire the draft rights to Sergio de Larrea (No. 25 pick; from Lakers).
- Suns acquire the draft rights to Koa Peat (No. 30 pick; from Mavericks).
- Knicks acquire the No. 47 overall pick (from Suns), the Suns’ 2029 second-round pick, the Sixers’ 2030 second-round pick (from Mavericks), the Mavericks’ 2032 second-round pick, the Suns’ 2033 second-round pick, the draft rights to Louis Labeyrie (from Lakers), the draft rights to Chinemelu Elonu (from Lakers), the draft rights to Melvin Ajinca (from Mavericks), and cash (from Lakers).
Essentially, the Lakers moved up from No. 25 to No. 24 to nab Carr by sending cash and a pair of draft-rights players to New York. The Mavericks then moved up from No. 30 to 25 for de Larrea by sending two future second-rounders and Ajinca’s rights to the Knicks. Then the Suns moved up from No. 47 to No. 30 to draft Peat by conveying their own 2029 and 2033 second-rounders to New York.
There’s no indication that New York plans to bring former second-rounders Labeyrie, Elonu, and Ajinca stateside. That’s perhaps still a possibility at some point for a player like Ajinca, a 2024 second-rounder who is just 21 years old. But Elonu was a 2009 second-rounder who is now 39 years old, while Labeyrie was a 2014 pick and is 34.
The acquisition of draft-rights players is more of a running bit by Knicks executive Brock Aller and their front office, notes Katz. The team now controls the rights to 19 of those players, per Keith Smith of Spotrac (Twitter link).
While Carr and Peat are safe bets to sign their rookie scale contracts in July and begin their NBA careers right away, it’s unclear whether de Larrea will sign this year or become a draft-and-stash prospect. According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link), there was an expectation before the draft that the Spaniard would remain in Europe for at least one more season, but those plans – including whether or not he’ll join the Mavs’ Summer League team – are still being figured out.
