The Los Angeles Lakers have a lot of decisions to make this offseason as they look to build a roster that can compete for a championship. One of the most important involves the future of Austin Reaves, who is expected to decline a player option for next season and become an unrestricted free agent.
Luka Doncic has reportedly made it very clear to the Lakers that not only does he want the team to re-sign Reaves, but also not include him in a potential Giannis Antetokounmpo trade, via Sam Amick and Dan Woike of The Athletic:
Doncic has made it clear to the Lakers that he would like to continue playing with Reaves, according to league sources. Beyond their close friendship, Doncic believes in Reaves as a long-term piece next to him. Multiple league sources said that belief was best illustrated when Doncic told people within the organization that he wouldn’t want Reaves included in any potential trade packages for Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo. Doncic, those sources say, would strongly prefer a team construction that includes him and Reaves alongside whatever star the Lakers could acquire.
The Lakers are expected to be among the teams that explores a trade for Antetokounmpo this summer. But their trade chips are somewhat limited, especially if any sort of sign-and-trade scenario with Reaves seemingly is off the table because of Doncic’s wishes.
Doncic and Reaves have built up a great partnership both on and off the court. The two work extremely well together and experienced great success throughout the season, and Doncic has traditionally done well when paired with a secondary playmaker in the backcourt as seen with his success next to the likes of Kyrie Irving and Jalen Brunson.
While Reaves isn’t on the level of those two, he and Doncic clearly make for a dynamic partnership and were the highest scoring duo in the NBA this season. Perhaps just as important was the friendship that developed between them as they were constantly cracking jokes and making playful jabs at each other all season long.
Similar to Doncic, Lakers head coach JJ Redick has also let it be known that he’d like to see the team’s core of star players stick together.
Austin Reaves talks free agency
Reaves, of course, was asked about his future following the Lakers’ loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder that ended their season. But the guard didn’t offer up much, noting that he really doesn’t think about the future and simply takes things day-by-day and will continue to do so leading up to this extremely important summer.
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