Austin Reaves is key to the Lakers’ post-LeBron James future
There are both on- and off-court reasons why the Lakers should be in no rush to trade Austin Reaves.
The Lakers went into Saturday’s matinee against the Indiana Pacers without LeBron James and Luka Dončić. No one would have batted an eye if they lost, much less gotten blown out.
Instead, fueled by a career-high 45 points from Austin Reaves, the Lakers managed to stave off the Pacers in a 124-117 victory.
Once the Lakers acquired Dončić this past weekend, speculation quickly began about Reaves’ long-term future with the team. He seemed like an obvious trade chip to dangle for upgrades elsewhere, as both LeBron and Dončić operate best with the ball in their hands.
Reaves is in the midst of a career year, but it’s unclear whether he’ll be able to maintain his 23.1% usage rate once Dončić makes his Lakers debut.
If James were in his mid-30s, that might be a valid concern. Alas, he turned 40 in December and has repeatedly hinted that he’s nearing the end of his Hall of Fame career. He very well might decide to retire after the 2025-26 season, which would allow the Lakers to pull off a hard reset around Dončić during the 2026 offseason.
Reaves could be key to that, both on and off the court.
Even prior to his 45-point eruption, Reaves was averaging a career-high 18.5 points and 6.1 assists per game this season while shooting 44.4% overall and 36.1% from deep. He isn’t one of the NBA’s premier marksmen, but he has drastically increased his three-point volume from only 2.7 attempts per game as a rookie to a career-high 7.0 this year.
Reaves has thrived as a secondary ball-handler alongside James. Even if he takes a step back once both James and Dončić suit up, that figures to be a short-term issue. There’s no reason why he couldn’t fill the same role alongside Dončić once James retires.
While Reaves is one of the Lakers’ most desirable trade chips, their now-rescinded trade for Hornets center Mark Williams was proof that they can acquire an impact player without including him.
Now that they have Dalton Knecht and their 2031 first-round pick back, they have more assets to go shopping with this offseason. Along with their 2031 first-rounder, they can offer a 2032 pick swap after the draft as well as swaps in 2026, 2028 and 2030.
Reaves could also be the key to the Lakers’ ability to reload immediately if James retires following the 2025-26 campaign. He has a $14.9 million player option for the 2026-27 season that he figures to decline, but the Lakers could leverage that to their advantage by following the same blueprint that the Philadelphia 76ers did with Tyrese Maxey this past offseason.
Since Reaves is an undrafted free agent rather than a first-round pick, he’ll have a relatively modest free-agent cap hold. As long as his 2025-26 salary ($13.9 million) is above the league’s average salary—which it should be—his cap hold will be only 150% of his previous salary, or $20.9 million. The salary cap is projected to be north of $170 million in 2026-27, so Reaves would be eligible for a maximum starting salary of $42.5 million.
Reaves likely won’t get a full max deal, but he figures to receive more than $20.9 million as the starting salary on his next contract. Because the Lakers have full Bird rights on him, they could keep his cap hold on their books, spend the rest of their salary-cap space first and then re-sign him to any deal up to a max even though they’ll already be over the cap.
Even with Reaves’ cap hold on their books, the Lakers could have upward of $69 million in cap room in 2026 if James retires after the 2025-26 season. A 35% max deal is projected to begin at $59.5 million that offseason, so the Lakers could have enough cap space to sign someone to a max deal and still land another impact player or two in free agency. They’d also have the $9.7 million room mid-level exception to use either on a free agent or as an in-season trade exception.
Reaves is eligible to sign an extension this offseason, so this plan wouldn’t be without risk. A number of teams appear to be loading up for free agency in 2026, including the Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat, and Reaves will be an unrestricted free agent if the Lakers don’t sign him to an extension. Maxey was a restricted free agent, so the Sixers knew they’d be able to match any offer sheet he signed with another team.
However, the Lakers are limited in how much they’re able to offer Reaves in an extension. His new deal couldn’t start at more than 140% of his previous salary, which would be $19.5 million. At most, they can offer him a four-year, $87.4 million extension, which might not be enough to deter him from testing free agency in 2026.
If the Lakers could get Reaves to sign that extension, his starting salary would be even lower than his free-agent cap hold in 2026, which would be all the better. Luckily, since he’s signed to a four-year deal, they can begin legally negotiating with him this offseason.
They can get a sense of how much he’s expecting on his next deal and whether they’re willing to meet that price. If not, they’d be better off shopping him this offseason rather than risk losing him for nothing next summer.
If the Lakers can get Reaves on board with waiting on a new deal—or if their max extension offer is lower than he’s looking for—his cap hold in 2026 could help them another co-star alongside Dončić, assuming James retires by then.
Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Salary Swish and salary-cap information via RealGM.
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