Ever since the Los Angeles Lakers suffered a disappointing defeat at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs, the fans have been brainstorming ways to improve the roster to become true championship contenders.
One of the most obvious and popular moves commonly discussed by the media and fans is a potential Austin Reaves trade. Reaves is the best trade asset on this team thanks to his age, upside, and team-friendly contract and is therefore seen as the most clear path for the Lakers to acquire a third star next to LeBron James and Luka Doncic.
Lakers Should Keep Austin Reaves for At Least Another Season
While this desire is understandable, trading Reaves now would be a mistake.
Not only have GM Rob Pelinka and the Lakers leadership shown no indication that they would be willing to trade Reaves (they even kept him out of the Luka Doncic trade), but holding on to the scoring guard also may give the Lakers the best chance to build a sustainable winner.
The theory for winning for the Lakers involves having three high-level shot creators in Reaves, Doncic, and James. Most teams in the NBA have three perimeter stoppers they can put on this three-headed monster, leaving at least one of them to have an advantageous matchup. Put shooting and rim-running around that group, and you should automatically have an elite offensive unit.
Instead of looking for ways to ship out Reaves, the Lakers need to search for ways to best optimize the Reaves-Doncic-James trio. That means that they have to get a reliable center who can protect the rim and finish around the basket, while adding more three-and-D role players.
The Lakers should be able to do that without giving up one of their highest-upside assets. Attaching draft capital to Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt, and Maxi Kleber's contracts should be able to get LA a few more rotation-caliber options to fill their holes. The Reaves-Doncic-James experiment deserves at least one more season with better-fitting players around them.