Los Angeles Lakers NBA Trade and Roster Rumors: Former Knicks President Phil Jackson Wanted to Get Lonzo Ball
It's been a summer of success for the Los Angeles Lakers. The team has made several moves to increase their chances of landing two marquee free agents next offseason, and they also added solid contributors like Brook Lopez and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to a young core that should only get better with another full season of experience under their belts.
These moves were great, but the biggest prize came in the form of prized rookie Lonzo Ball. The Lakers really lucked out when they moved up a spot in the draft lottery, and they used the second overall pick to select the former UCLA point guard.
Ball has been great so far. He has been named the most valuable player of the Las Vegas Summer League last month, and he's well on his way to becoming the new face of the franchise. However, veteran basketball analyst Peter Vecsey has recently revealed that the Lakers could have missed out on Ball if former New York Knicks president Phil Jackson had succeeded in trading Kristaps Porziņģis.
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During an appearance on the "HoopsHype Podcast With Alex Kennedy," Vecsey said Jackson actually tried to trade Porziņģis to the Boston Celtics for the first overall pick in the draft, and he wanted to use the pick on Ball.
"Phil was angling for to try to trade Porzingis for the No. 1 pick to Boston, and he would have taken Ball. That's who he was after," Vecsey said, via Slam. "In the end, people might really like that," he added.
That would have been an interesting trade, but they couldn't work out a deal. Instead, the Celtics would trade the pick to the 76ers, and Philadelphia would use it to select Markelle Fultz.
Fortunately, things worked out quite well for the Lakers and Ball fell into their laps on draft day.
