The Milwaukee Bucks acquired forward/center Jericho Sims in February 2025 in a multi-team trade that sent franchise legend and former champion Khris Middleton to the Washington Wizards. 

A little over a year later, with the 2026-27 regular season less than a week away, Sims may be headed to the West Coast. 

NBA insider Jake Fischer reported earlier this week that the Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers have engaged in trade talks involving Sims and third-year guard/forward Dalton Knecht. 

The Lakers reportedly would need to add second-round draft capital in order to make the deal work. However, league sources also tell Fischer they are pessimistic that the deal will actually materialize. 

In Knecht, the Bucks would receive an interesting piece that could fit into their long-term vision. 

The 25-year-old is a shooter with good size at 6-foot-6, able to play in the backcourt and frontcourt. 

He has fallen out of favor on the purple-and-gold side of Los Angeles after his failed trade to the Charlotte Hornets in February, and he has seemingly never recovered, on or off the court. 

However, after averaging 21.7 points per game in his final year at Tennessee — and 9.1 points per game on 37.6 percent shooting from three-point range as a rookie with the Lakers — he has enough to build on if the Bucks can help him rediscover his groove. 

With Myles Turner still there and the Bucks getting Kel'el Ware in the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade from Miami, Sims' playing time prospects could be bleak. Flipping him for Knecht presents an intriguing low-risk, high-reward move for Milwaukee. 

The Lakers are very thin at center behind marquee free-agent acquisition Walker Kessler. 

Their wanting to get rid of Knecht is also no secret. 

The Lakers need to get rid of a body to trim their roster from 16 to 15 standard-contract players before the regular season begins. However, if an opportunity to further strengthen the frontcourt arises, they may reconsider their strategy. 

This is where Sims comes in. 

The 6-foot-10 big man is a reliable career contributor, now across two franchises. Entering his sixth year in the league, he has never averaged fewer than double-digit minutes. That says a lot about a player whose career performance averages are 3.1 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. His impact doesn't always show up on the stat sheet. 

In his first full season with the Bucks last year, Sims averaged 5 points and 5 rebounds in 19.7 minutes per game over 67 games (19 starts). 

He is an athletic big body who is a constant lob threat and would fit extremely well with Luka Doncic's and Austin Reaves' guard play. 

Sims opted into his $2.8 million player option with the Bucks in June, and his expiring deal makes him an even more attractive punt for the Lakers. 

If he works out and becomes a worthy backup to Kessler, great. If not, at least they'd gotten something in return for a former first-round pick in Knecht instead of cutting him, and Sims could become a free agent next summer. 

The upside of a trade like this, with both teams keen to act fast, is that we shouldn't have to wait long for an outcome.