Lakers reportedly eyeing rare trade with Celtics

This year’s NBA trade deadline could provide us with a sight almost as rare as Halley’s Comet.

Brian Robb of MassLive.com reported Tuesday that the Los Angeles Lakers have emerged as one suitor for Boston Celtics guard Josh Richardson. Robb adds that the Lakers have offered Talen Horton-Tucker and a future pick to the Celtics for Richardson. The report also says though that Horton-Tucker is seen as a negative asset around the league right now. Thus, any such deal for Richardson would be contingent on an unprotected future first-round pick from the Lakers being enough to entice the Celtics.

The merits of such a trade aside, it is extremely uncommon for the Lakers and the Celtics, two historic NBA rivals, to collaborate on a trade. According to Basketball Reference, the two teams have only ever been trade partners three times throughout history. The most recent one came in 2004 when the Lakers dealt Rick Fox, Gary Payton, and a first-round pick that later became Rajon Rondo to Boston for Chris Mihm, Chucky Atkins, and Jumaine Jones. The other two trades occurred in 1999 (Tony Battie to the Lakers for Travis Knight) and 1977 (a package that sent Kermit Washington to the Celtics).

One possible factor in the two teams not having traded in nearly 20 years is the fact that Danny Ainge, a longtime Celtic who battled the Lakers during their peak rivalry in the 1980s, ran Boston’s front office virtually that entire time. We even heard stories about how the Lakers-Celtics rivalry may have cost the Lakers one star acquisition. But Ainge is no longer with the Celtics, making it seem more likely that the team, under new president of basketball operations Brad Stevens, could now link up on a trade with the Lakers.

Photo: Sep 27, 2019; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka answers a question during the Lakers media day at the UCLA Health Training Center in El Segundo, CA. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY Sports