As the Los Angeles Lakers prepare for a pivotal offseason, speculation continues to swirl around the future of guard Austin Reaves. Amid ongoing trade discussions among fans and media, The Athletic’s Jovan Buha offered a measured response, emphasizing the organization’s high valuation of Reaves and urging patience from those calling for a move.
In response to a fan comment suggesting that Reaves “gotta go,” Buha challenged the logic behind such proposals, stating that any trade involving the 26-year-old would require significant return value to be seriously considered by the Lakers.
“I think the big thing is… show me the Austin trade that makes sense and show me the Austin trade that’s going to make sense to the Lakers,” Buha said. “Because again, we can sit here and theorize and we could come up with all these hypotheticals about Austin for this guy, Austin for that guy – it’s going to come down to how do the Lakers feel? And the Lakers have a really high bar for trading Austin.”
Buha pointed out that many hypothetical trades involving Reaves either overvalue or undervalue the guard. He referenced fan suggestions that included deals for All-Stars like Bam Adebayo or Jaren Jackson Jr., as well as offers involving role players such as Jonathan Isaac or Goga Bitadze, calling both extremes unrealistic.
I’ve said this before, I’ve seen him traded for Bam [Adebayo] and for triple J [Jaren Jackson Jr.] which I think are both unrealistic,” Buha noted. “I’ve also seen him traded for Jonathan Isaac or Goga [Bitadze] which I also think is unrealistic and completely undervaluing how good Austin really is. So, I think it’s gotta be somewhere in the middle of those two extremes… probably more towards the Bam, triple J type, but not quite at that level.
“I’ve yet to really see an Austin trade that makes sense for both sides and I think in general people are undervaluing how the Lakers feel about him,” Buha said. “What matters is what the Lakers think and I just think a lot of the Austin trades I’ve seen are far worse returns for Austin than the Lakers would accept. The bar to trade Austin is very high.”
Reaves is coming off his most productive NBA season to date. The fourth-year guard averaged a career-high 20.2 points, 5.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game on 46% shooting from the field and 37.7% from beyond the arc across 73 appearances.
However, his numbers dipped during the Lakers’ first-round playoff loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Despite playing through a left big toe sprain, Reaves appeared in all five games, averaging 16.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.6 assists while shooting 41.1% from the field and 31.9% from three.
As the Lakers consider how to build around LeBron James and Luka Doncic, Reaves remains a key piece — one the front office appears in no hurry to move.
