The Los Angeles Lakers may have just made the most consequential trade in NBA history, and it could also be merely the first domino to fall in a myriad of monster moves.
L.A. acquired five-time First-Team All-NBA star Luka Doncic from the Dallas Mavericks in return for Anthony Davis. What that deal means for the future of LeBron James in Los Angeles is the next major factor to consider, though it isn’t highly likely that his employment status changes before the end of this season. There are just four days remaining until the February 6 trade deadline, which would mean a significant time crunch around any deals involving James.
However, a move involving one-way star guard Austin Reaves may very well be on the horizon in the next few days, particularly if the Lakers’ plan is for James and Doncic to finish out this season together. Reaves needs the ball in his hands to a certain degree to be effective, and there will be minimal usage rate to go around with two of the best on-ball offensive players ever sharing the court at Crypto.com Arena.
Tim Bontemps of ESPN essentially predicted on the Sunday, February 2 edition of the “Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective” podcast that the Lakers will take a hard look at trading Reaves because it’s simply the rational thing to do.
“I’m thinking long and hard about trading Austin Reaves today. Because Austin Reaves … his trade value is probably never going to be higher than it is right now,” Bontemps said. “And if you can turn him into some significant stuff, whether it’s draft picks, whether it’s maybe some size inside, which they now don’t have — I think that is a very interesting domino to watch over the next few days.”
Austin Reaves Doesn’t Make Sense on Lakers Roster That Includes LeBron James, Luka Doncic
Getty Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bontemps added that as of Sunday morning he had done no reporting indicating that the Lakers are shopping Reaves or that they will move on from him.
However, he made clear that it simply makes sense for Los Angeles to look for a deal considering on-court factors beyond the obvious advantage from an asset perspective.
“If you have LeBron, Luka and Austin Reaves — that’s three guys who have the ball a lot who aren’t playing a lot of defense,” Bontemps continued. “It’s gonna be hard to have a balanced team with all of them, and Austin Reaves’ value is probably never gonna be higher than it is on this contract for the next 18 months.”
Austin Reaves Trade Can Help Lakers Rebuild Around Luka Doncic
GettyLos Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves.
In total, Reaves’ deal is worth nearly $54 million and technically runs through 2026-27. However, the final season is a player option for just shy of $15 million in what will be Reaves’ age-28 season.
He will almost certainly be able to command a higher annual salary on a multiyear contract in the middle of his prime, which means his value-to-pay ratio as a one-way star might price the Lakers out of a new deal for Reaves in a year and a half anyway.
Windhorst noted that due to Reaves’ trade value at this point in time, he believes the Mavericks made a mistake by not acquiring the offense-first guard in the Davis-Doncic deal.
However, Dallas did land Max Christie — an up-and-coming wing who is just 21 years old, on a value contract, plays good defense and can make three-pointers at a high clip — as part of the trade. Los Angeles also parted with its 2029 first-round pick.
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