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Plz, don't get me wrong: I think he's a very good player.
But there's serious overlapping issues.

In fact, LeBron (at this stage), Luka and Reaves are essentially the same player. But both LBJ and Luka have the BB IQ to figure out how to complement each other. I guess.

Are they waiting for LeBron's contract to end and include Reeves in a big trade, maybe? Or a trade deadline operation leading to playoffs?

Because they didn’t need a big anymore after they signed former number 1 pick Dominayton

Because Lebron isn't going to be there beyond this year anyways

He is welcome in Wolves, we can hide his lack of defending with our personnel.

Because no one would give them a superstar for expiring Reaves.

The rest of the league knows how mediocre Reaves really is. Is he that much better than an Aaron Wiggins? Sure, he gets a lot of minutes and thus counting stats, but the Lakers are woefully thin.

Considering what the Lakers front office used to say about bums like Talen Horton Tucker, they probably want an All Star in return, and that' just not going to happen. Reaves is nothing special.

LeBron won't be there forever, likely gone after this season unless he's willing to take a steep discount. And this is the Lakers we're talking about, it would take a king's ransom to get Reaves, and he's on a good contract

Rubios wrote:In fact, LeBron (at this stage), Luka and Reeves are essentially the same player.

If the Lakers think this as well, then that's why he didn't get traded. Because no other team in the league thinks Reeves and Luka are 'essentially the same player'

Effigy wrote:

Rubios wrote:In fact, LeBron (at this stage), Luka and Reeves are essentially the same player.

If the Lakers think this as well, then that's why he didn't get traded. Because no other team in the league thinks Reeves and Luka are 'essentially the same player'

I mean... the same style, way of playing. Not that they are on the same stratosphere.

Lakers are supposedly saving their cap space so they can sign a big star.

Reeves' cap number is just under $14 million and his player option for next season is $14.9 million. If he has another good scoring season, he's going to be looking for over $30-40 million AAV.

Lebron is on a $52.6 million expiring.

They also have Vincent, Rui and Kleber on expiring contracts of $11.5 million, $18.2 and $11 million. Also Hayes on a $3.5 million expiring.

So potentially they have $107-108 million in expiring contracts.

Can they combine some or all of these salaries to trade for Giannis or Jokic? Because who else are they going to spend potentially $107-108 million in salary space on next summer?

Are they going to give Reeves $35-40 million AAV extension?

Whom are they going to pay to replace LBJ's production?

The 2026 free agents aren't that impressive:

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents

wco81 wrote:Lakers are supposedly saving their cap space so they can sign a big star.

Reeves' cap number is just under $14 million and his player option for next season is $14.9 million. If he has another good scoring season, he's going to be looking for over $30-40 million AAV.

Lebron is on a $52.6 million expiring.

They also have Vincent, Rui and Kleber on expiring contracts of $11.5 million, $18.2 and $11 million. Also Hayes on a $3.5 million expiring.

So potentially they have $107-108 million in expiring contracts.

Can they combine some or all of these salaries to trade for Giannis or Jokic? Because who else are they going to spend potentially $107-108 million in salary space on next summer?

Are they going to give Reeves $35-40 million AAV extension?

Whom are they going to pay to replace LBJ's production?

The 2026 free agents aren't that impressive:

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents

They'll trade Reeves and a 2nd for Edwards.

How much better is Reaves over a average replacement? Not tremendous, but he is cheap(er) insurance and everybody likes Hillbilly Kobe in LA. So the vibes is high.

Reaves + Hachimura to Celtics
White to Lakers

It doesn't make sense to rush to trade Austin Reaves. The team payroll will have some flexibility after this season and if they move on from Lebron James. Deadweight makes $50m and some fans are concerned about the $14m Austin Reaves makes?

Reaves is a good fit with Luka, Lula always played with a good ball handling guard excapt pre deadline 22/23.
Their problems are in the rest of thr roster, they needed with athletic defender, they have unathletic shooters with bad defense.

but what can reaves and not much draft assets get you??

Effigy wrote:

wco81 wrote:Lakers are supposedly saving their cap space so they can sign a big star.

Reeves' cap number is just under $14 million and his player option for next season is $14.9 million. If he has another good scoring season, he's going to be looking for over $30-40 million AAV.

Lebron is on a $52.6 million expiring.

They also have Vincent, Rui and Kleber on expiring contracts of $11.5 million, $18.2 and $11 million. Also Hayes on a $3.5 million expiring.

So potentially they have $107-108 million in expiring contracts.

Can they combine some or all of these salaries to trade for Giannis or Jokic? Because who else are they going to spend potentially $107-108 million in salary space on next summer?

Are they going to give Reeves $35-40 million AAV extension?

Whom are they going to pay to replace LBJ's production?

The 2026 free agents aren't that impressive:

https://www.spotrac.com/nba/free-agents

They'll trade Reeves and a 2nd for Edwards.

This is just plain silly.

HMFFL wrote:It doesn't make sense to rush to trade Austin Reaves. The team payroll will have some flexibility after this season and if they move on from Lebron James. Deadweight makes $50m and some fans are concerned about the $14m Austin Reaves makes?

On the KOC podcast, they speculated that LBJ isn't happy about his contractual situation, where it appears the Lakers are going to move on from him after this season. He didn't practice much and he was disengaged during the game last night. So maybe this health condition which holds him out for 2-3 weeks is him showing that the Lakers still need him?

He was still All-NBA (second team) last season. His age and salary and the fact that Luka is now the face of the franchise makes him persona non grata with the Lakers.

But whom are they going to sign with all that cap space who's going to be an All-NBA player? Those are usually locked up by teams into super max contracts.

The only one who might potentially leave his current team is Giannis? But that won't be until the summer likely and by then, it may be too late to trade all these expiring contracts including LBJs.

Because they need ball handlers and shot creators. Lebron's health is an issue. Reeves is the only other guy that can create shot and drive to the paint.

Who wants to pay his next contract?

He needs a Josh Giddey Bulls type situation, where he gets to be the primary ball handler and expectations for the team are low.