If the Los Angeles Lakers want to sign Dejounte Murray of the Atlanta Hawks, they must give up Austin Reaves.
After Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times learned the Hawks’ asking price for Murray during their previous trade negotiations with a different team, such is the current attitude.
“Woike wrote on January 13 that NBA insiders claimed the Hawks discussed a Dejounte Murray trade with Atlanta in exchange for Immanuel Quickley and a first-round pick during their talks with the Knicks.”
The Hawks hope to recover nearly all of the money they spent on Murray a season and a half ago. The San Antonio Spurs, who are also eager to reunite with their former All-Star guard, traded for Murray in exchange for three first-round picks, two of which were unprotected, and an unprotected pick swap.
“The Lakers can’t truly match the cost of acquiring Murray without Reaves if it involves a first-round pick plus a young player who can win now (the Raptors chose to trade OG Anunoby to the Knicks in exchange for two of those players instead of a first-round choice). There haven’t been any talks regarding trading Reaves, according to sources, Woike reported.
The Lakers “want to push the pace offensively and are interested in someone who can serve as a point-of-attack defender,” according to Chris Haynes of TNT/Bleacher Report.
Murray is a prototypical
