The two main reasons why the Lakers shouldn’t include Austin Reaves in any summer trades

The Los Angeles Lakers are going to be active this summer on the trade market, scouring the league to find the right center to pair with Luke Dončić and LeBron James after failing to finalize a deal before the trade deadline. Mark Williams was signed, sealed and delivered, but the Lakers sent him back to Charlotte after failing his physical, leaving them with a gaping hole in their roster that proved to be too large to overcome in the playoffs. 

As is tradition this time of year, people are churning and burning on the trade machine trying to figure out how to get a starting caliber center to L.A. so the Lakers can try to make one more push at a title with LeBron before shifting focus entirely to the Dončić era. To get good players, you have to give up good players and/or assets, and that always becomes a battle among fans when discussing potential trades. 

For the Lakers, the name that creates the most commotion when it comes to trade talk is Austin Reaves. The soon-to-be 27-year-old enjoyed a career year in 2024-25, averaging 20.2 points, 5.8 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game on 46.0/37.7/87.7 shooting splits. Those are terrific numbers for your No. 3 option, but as the Lakers begin their quest to find a new center, they have to determine whether they would be better off parting with their budding homegrown star. 

Other teams are undoubtedly going to ask for Reaves in trade talks, but the Lakers should have a hard line about not parting with him for anything less than an established All-Star — if even then. There are two main reasons for that, both basketball and business.

Austin Reaves is the Lakers only other source of shot creation

It starts with basketball reasons for not trading Reaves, which leads with his ability to create for himself and others. Having a secondary on-ball threat alongside Dončić and James is vital, especially come playoff time when defenses ratchet up their pressure.

We’ve seen how the Thunder (who don’t seem to be going anywhere in the West) forced the ball out of the hands of a superstar in Anthony Edwards during the Western Conference Finals, shifting the pressure to Minnesota’s others to pick up the scoring load. That formula isn’t going to change anytime soon, and for hopeful contenders in the West, having reliable options beyond your top stars is a must if you’re going to navigate a series with OKC. 

Reaves gives the Lakers a third capable ball-handler alongside Dončić and James, alleviating some of the pressure on them to create everything, while also being a solid floor-spacer (37.7% 3-point shooting last year) when playing off the ball. In the long-term, once James eventually retires or moves on, having that creation becomes even more important as they build around Dončić. 

If this postseason has shown us anything, it’s that to build a contender you have to have high-end depth beyond your top stars. Reaves provides that and, as we’ll get to next, offers a great deal of value for the money L.A. is paying him right now. 

The Lakers won’t find more production for the money available anywhere

From a business perspective, it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to trade Reaves right now because there aren’t many players out there who give you more production for the money Reaves is making. You could find some guys on rookie deals who do (and none of them are available in a trade), but for a player on his second contract, Reaves at just shy of $14 million next season is a steal. 

The Reaves salary makes him extremely valuable, but also makes him trickier to trade and get back the caliber of player you want. At $14 million, the Lakers would need to attach at least one more sizable salary to Reaves in order to make a deal work for an established high-end center. As much as they need a center, if the cost of getting one is giving up Reaves plus more, they likely won’t improve enough on the aggregate to be a real contender anyway. 

Just about every championship-caliber team has guys who out-perform their contracts, because that is how you end up with quality playoff depth. The Lakers problem right now is they don’t have enough of that, and trading Reaves would only exacerbate that issue. 

That’s not because Reaves is some untouchable talent that you should never consider moving, but because what he’s already giving to you on a team-friendly deal right now is almost assuredly better than what you’d get in return. When you have two max stars already, you need that kind of upside from a mid-level range deal and replacing that would be nearly impossible. 

In that regard, Reaves’ agent is correct that folks need to stop putting him in trade rumors for “second-string centers.”

As the Lakers explore their options, expect them to start with a similar package to what they made for Mark Williams — Dalton Knecht, their 2031 first round pick and salary filler (Maxi Kleber) — and be willing to add in other rotation pieces to make money work, but any time Reaves’ name comes up, shift to counter offers or bring talks to an end. 

That is, unless another once-in-a-lifetime trade arrives gift-wrapped at their doorstep like it did in February.