The Los Angeles Lakers’ front office has some work to do this offseason in improving this roster into a true championship contender. The question is how they will go about doing so and if making a trade is a route they will explore, the most attractive piece the Lakers have is guard Austin Reaves.
Reaves was one of the best and most important players on the Lakers this season. But after a rough showing in the playoffs, no doubt exacerbated by playing through an injury, there are some wondering whether L.A. could consider dealing Reaves away.
But according to Dan Woike of the L.A. Times, the most important people within the Lakers organization all love Reaves and the likelihood of a trade seems low:
Everyone is aware of the noise from the media and on the message boards (shoutout Lakers reddit), no one is acting like a trade is going to happen this summer for a couple of reasons.
One, the Lakers and the most important people in the organization all love Reaves and his journey from undrafted free agent to a talent that people think is All-Star caliber. And, at just $14 million next season, he’ll be one of the most productive players in the league per dollar minus some superstars on the very early stages of their rookie deals.
However, the Lakers won’t go as far as calling Reaves untradeable. But it would have to be for a player that is a real foundational piece whom the team could build around for the future:
Two, he’s not viewed as “untradeable” because almost no one in the NBA is untradeable. But if the Lakers are going to trade him for a center, they’re going to want one that is foundationally important — a build-around type and not a fill-in toward the obvious need they have at center (and will need to address in other ways).
If one of the best centers in the NBA were available, the conversations might be different, but at least now, during the first part of the offseason, that just isn’t the case.
Reaves is a borderline All-Star on an excellent contract and is still just 26 years old. The Lakers have said on many occasions how important he is to the franchise both on the court as a player, and just as a person with how he carries and represents himself.
The Lakers are going to keep their options open and if there is a deal that they simply can’t pass up for a game-changer and Reaves has to be in the deal then they will do what they have to. But short of that, Reaves is simply too good to give away for just a decent piece.
Lakers’ Austin Reaves reflects on his 2024-25 season
Despite the unfortunate end, Reaves still had an outstanding 2024-25 season with the Lakers, clearly the best of his career. And in looking back on it, the thing that stood out most to Reaves was that he just had a lot of fun.
“I had a lot of fun,” Reaves said in his exit interview. “Forget the basketball, I enjoyed every single day going to work and being around these guys, the coaching staff, training staff, weight staff, everybody in the organization. From game one to game 82 and now, I just had a lot of fun.”
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