The Los Angeles Lakers carried an eight-game winning streak into their highly-anticipated Saturday night matchup against the defending champion Boston Celtics, though the team unfortunately came away on the receiving end of a 111-101 defeat in enemy territory to drop their record to 40-22.
The Lakers’ 26-year-old generational talent Luka Dončić poured in 34 points, eight rebounds and three assists while knocking down five of his 10 attempts from three-point range, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the rest of the team connecting on just 30.0% of their looks from distance as a collective.
Los Angeles’ evident efficiency struggles from long range paired with their underwhelming center depth ultimately did the group in against their fiercest rival.
In order to correct these issues, recent trade proposals have indicated that the franchise’s general manager Rob Pelinka could reach out to the Dallas Mavericks this summer with the idea of bringing in a battle-tested five-time All-Star and one of the league’s most dependable frontcourt talents while cutting a potential future All-Star loose via trade.
Mavericks fans may start to twitch when seeing the Lakers as a trade partner, and understandably so,” Bleacher Report’s Greg Swartz wrote Monday.
“This deal would actually work out in their favor, however, giving Dallas some much-needed offensive creation now with Luka Dončić gone.”
“(Austin) Reaves is having the best season of his career (19.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 6.0 assists 1.1 steals per game) and would help take playmaking pressure off of Kyrie Irving, who’s now likely to miss the beginning of 2025-26 following a torn ACL.”
“(Klay) Thompson should be thrilled to play with Dončić again and the Lakers get an ideal starting center with (Daniel) Gafford taking over for Jaxson Hayes.”
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In this hypothetical scenario, Swartz suggests that the Lakers complete a deal to welcome the four-time NBA champion and former Golden State Warriors legend Thompson to the club along with Gafford in exchange for the surging Reaves and Jarred Vanderbilt.
At 35 years old, Thompson has still proven to be one of the league’s deadliest three-point marksmen, as he’s averaging 14.3 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting a wonderful 40.0% from deep on 7.9 attempts.
With the possible introduction of the six-year veteran big Gafford, Los Angeles would also gain one of the league’s best lob threats to pair with an all-time passing duo in Dončić and James.
Gafford would reunite with Dončić as an exlosive pick-and-roll partner, as the duo helped lead the Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals just one season ago. By also factoring in James’ play-making ability, Los Angeles would possibly be viewed as title favorites for the 2025-26 season upon the completion of this transaction.
As a potential member of the Mavericks, the 26-year-old Reaves would be able to fully unlock his potential as an on-ball operator and scoring threat. The 6-foot-5 slithery shooting guard is currently contributing career-best’s of 18.8 points, 5.8 assists and 1.1 steals on a 53.5% effective field goal percentage
