The Los Angeles Lakers are dealing with the reactions to a polarizing offseason of moves to build a new roster around Luka Doncic. Two massive decisions saw the Lakers extending free agent Austin Reaves to a big contract and trading multiple draft picks to land center Walker Kessler on a new contract. NBA insider Zach Lowe doesn’t believe this roster has a chance to contend for a title this season.
A prediction from Lowe already sees him expecting the Lakers to trade Reaves once this experiment fails:
“There’s no question that they (Lakers) overpaid for him (Kessler) and are now trapped with this team and have to figure out: either this is the team or is there a way to pivot by trading Austin Reaves down the line or something like that. They are out of tradeable assets because of the Walker Kessler deal.
All that said, he’s played no meaningful games in the NBA basically and barely played at all last year. So yeah, fairly or not, those assets, much like happened to Mikal Bridges, will hang around his neck until he proves he’s worth it.”
Most pundits share a similar thought with Lowe that the new Lakers roster has little chance to contend with the top Western Conference teams. The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder are expected to continue dominating with their young rosters. Other teams like the Minnesota Timberwolves, Denver Nuggets, and Houston Rockets have clearer paths towards the NBA Finals than the Lakers do right now.
Why Lowe Expects An Austin Reaves Trade
The scenario shared by Lowe is that the Lakers will eventually come to grips with this roster not posing a threat in the deep Western Conference. Losing starters LeBron James and Rui Hachimura, among other rotation players in free agency, will see Los Angeles having weaker forward depth.
Reaves is the only strong player that will hold trade value to get an asset or multiple assets back in a trade next summer or beyond. Lowe also referenced how Kessler has never played important games during his tenure with the Utah Jazz to add more question marks there.
If Kessler is not a top three player on a title contender, the Lakers will be judged for both trading assets for him and paying big money. James, Hachimura, and Marcus Smart were all off the table once the Lakers committed to Kessler.
How Austin Reaves Stays With Lakers
The only way for Reaves to keep his role on the team in the long-term future is to play good basketball. Reaves must improve his defense in a starting lineup that also has below average defenders Doncic and Quentin Grimes.
The duo of Luka and Reaves must also dominate offensively as the clear two best scorers on the team. Reaves must find a way to leave his impact on winning after moving up a spot in the pecking order without LeBron.
Lowe’s words are similar to many others who expect the Lakers to fail and get desperate. Teams like the Detroit Pistons and Brooklyn Nets expressed interest in signing Reaves this summer. Expect those two and other teams to be quite interested if Reaves does hit the trade block in the next year.
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