PORTLAND, Ore. — The Portland Trail Blazers are trading guard Josh Hart to the New York Knicks for forward Cam Reddish, wing Svi Mykhailiuk, guard Ryan Arcidiacono and a lottery-protected 2023 first-round draft pick, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported Wednesday.
The NBA trade deadline is Thursday at noon PST.
Wojnarowski reported that the lottery-protected first-round pick will turn into four second-round picks if it doesn't convey in 2023. It conveys to Portland if the Knicks (30-26), currently in seventh place in the East, make the playoffs this season.
The 6-foot-8, 218-pound Reddish, 23, was a Top 10 pick in 2019. Over his first three seasons, he played regularly with the Atlanta Hawks, but he has struggled to crack the rotation since he was traded to the Knicks last season. In 153 career games, he's averaged 10.2 points and 3.0 rebounds, while shooting 39.3% from the field, 32.3% from the 3-point line and .844 from the free-throw line in 24.5 minutes per game.
After Wednesday night's game, Blazers star guard Damian Lillard said he's excited about Reddish coming to Portland.
"I've always liked Cam Reddish a lot," Lillard said. "I watch a lot of games and when I've seen him, he's a guy that can shoot the ball. He's a legit 6-8, a good athlete, and I've seen him in some matchups with some really good players and he can really defend when that's what he's focused on. Obviously, the talent is through the roof.
"Highly touted out of high school, went to Duke. Hasn't found a home yet, but he's one of those guys where you always look at it like, 'Man, if he gets to the right place, could it click?' You could see something come out of him, and I take a lot of pride in pouring into guys, especially in a situation like this. I like the opportunity, for him and for us," Lillard said.
Mykhailiuk, 25, is a 6-7, 205-pound wing. The 2018 second-round pick has averaged 6.3 points with .399/.356/.780 shooting splits in 16.2 minutes over 233 career games.
Arcidiacono, 28, is a 6-3, 195-pound guard. In 228 career games, he has career averages of 4.4 points and 2.0 assists with shooting splits of .431/.374/.807 in 16.4 minutes per game. in 228 career games.
The contracts of Reddish ($5.95 million), Mykhailiuk ($1.84 million) and Arcidiacono ($1.84 million) expire after this season, according to basketball-reference.com. The Blazers saved about $3.2 million in the trade.
Hart, 27, was one of the primary pieces that came to Portland in last year’s trade that sent CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans. The 6-foot-5 wing was fantastic for the Blazers last season after the trade, averaging 19.9 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.2 steals in 13 games. He shot the ball well, including 37.3% on 6.4 3-point attempts per game.
He earned the starting position at small forward in training camp ahead of the 2022-23 season and started all 50 games he played for Portland this season. Hart averaged 9.5 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game. He ranked second on the team in rebounding, behind only starting center Jusuf Nurkic, and played a valuable role as a playmaker with his ability to pass and create his own shot off the dribble.
Hart struggled this season was with his 3-point shot, not only in terms of shooting accuracy but also his willingness to shoot the ball when he was open behind the 3-point line. He averaged only 2.2 3-point attempts per game, down from his career average of 4.2 attempts per game and well below the 6.4 he averaged with the Blazers last season. He also shot just 29.6% from 3, below his career 34.7% mark.
Hart has a player option on his contract after this season that he could decline and become a free agent. After Wednesday's game, Lillard talked about the business decision that went into trading a good player like Hart, saying it was important that the Blazers get something of significance for him instead of lose him this offseason for nothing.
"Josh is a really good player, so you have to know that he has an option and he's probably going to opt out of the deal that he has now, and you have to assume that he's going to be wanted on the open market and there's a chance that you lose a player like that if you're not able to match that number," Lillard said. "So it's either that, or find an opportunity where you can position yourself to maybe do something else significant instead of just having a loss of a significant player."
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