Austin Reaves is due. Should the Lakers foot the bill?

On Reaves and the difficulty with paying lower-case-s stars

The Los Angeles Lakers’ ballhandler surveys the court near midcourt, one more star amidst the many dotting the iconic logo.

He calls for the pick from sharpshooting rookie Dalton Knecht. One defender stays tethered to Knecht as he makes contact, opening up a hairline crack in the defensive shell. The ballhandler surges forward. Help comes in, but too late, as the Laker feels a bump, rises, and sinks a difficult, falling-down floater. And-one.

That wasn’t LeBron James driving to the hoop; he’s resting on the bench. Luka Doncic stands virtually motionless on the wing, less a decoy than an appreciative spectator. Instead, it was Austin Reaves singlehandedly driving the offense:

The sheer frequency with which we saw that kind of play would’ve been unfathomable to me after the team traded for Doncic in February. Acquiring a world-devourer like Doncic means taking offense away from other players, and Reaves (who had assumed full-time point guard duties just weeks earlier after the team alchemized D’Angelo Russell into Dorian Finney-Smith) was the natural statistical fall guy. If nothing else, it seemed likely to cause Reaves some mental whiplash.

Instead, Reaves was better with Doncic. In 26 regular-season games, Reaves averaged more points, more rebounds, and more free throws than pre-trade, and he shot a higher percentage from the floor and from deep (while playing the same number of minutes). For the third consecutive season, Reaves boasted a top-decile relative true shooting percentage (meaning he was crazy efficient). Only assists took any hit, a natural byproduct of shifting away from the point guard role.

Where before he was a focus of defensive game plans, Reaves suddenly became an afterthought as foes lasered in on Doncic and James. He made defenses pay over and over for their inattention. Often guarded by an opponent’s weakest perimeter defender, Reaves went into isolation mode more often (4.5 isos per game after the trade vs. fewer than three before) and repeatedly barbequed some chicken.

It helps that Reaves is a tremendous finisher. He shot 69% at the rim last season, an excellent number that was actually the lowest of his career. He’s been an utterly elite free-throw accumulator since his college days, something that hasn’t changed next to Doncic. Not since prime Chris Paul have we seen someone as quick to pull up when they feel a hand on their shooting arm, but it’s not all tricks. He possesses a rare blend of shiftiness and unexpected physicality, and his ability to switch between the two leaves defenders with two left feet and zero hope:

If unbalanced, backpedaling opponents wait for the Eurostep, Reaves will occasionally throw them to the ground with a shrug worthy of Atlas:

For all that, though, Reaves might be best as an off-ball player. He shot 40% on catch-and-shoot triples vs. just 35% on pull-ups, and Synergy pegged him as a 96th percentile scorer in spot-up situations and 76th percentile rocketing around off-ball screens. In other words, the perfect counterpart to passing savants like Doncic and James.

Offensively, there is one area I’d like to see more improvement: Reaves as a spontaneous cutter. Coach JJ Redick usually stationed Reaves behind the arc to make more room for James and Doncic in the lane. But Reaves only finished 23 possessions all season off cuts. That’s not enough.

Maintaining spacing is important, but Doncic and James are master jazz improvisers. Sometimes, a little ditty is all that’s needed to start the party:

The other question mark resides on the other side of the ball. Reaves will never be a lockdown defender, but there’s a wide spectrum between “average” and “wet paper towel.” Where he falls in that range will ultimately determine how good he — and the Lakers — can be.

Reaves was miscast as a primary perimeter stopper for large chunks of the season, but LA’s defensive rating was almost exactly the median with Reaves on or off the floor. That didn’t change with Doncic (the consistency is eerie). Considering the duo scored 122.4 points per 100 possessions, a huge number, an average defense is good enough to win plenty of regular-season games.

But average becomes vulnerable in the playoffs. Reaves has a history of being targeted defensively. There’s only so much he can do to compensate for his lack of lateral agility, but he can’t keep bailing out wild drives with unnecessary fouls. Where did he think Nickeil Alexander-Walker was going here?

Doncic may have inherited the bullseye from Reaves’ back, but even still, that often puts Reaves as the low man — not an ideal spot for a vertically-challenged guy with a 6’6” wingspan. His only hope is to grab his windchimes and hope someone runs into him. They usually don’t:

Concerns about Doncic and Reaves defending at the same time are valid. Here’s where I’d like to point out that the Lakers almost always ran out Jaxson Hayes, Rui Hachimura, or James at center next to the melanin-deficient duo. None are cut out to be full-time paint protectors.

A real defensive backbone would go a long way toward plugging the holes (which is one reason why we’ve seen Reaves’ name mentioned in trade rumors for centers since the second Doncic was acquired). Whether new addition Deandre Ayton can be that guy is unclear, but he’ll almost certainly be a step up from Hayes as the primary starter. Portland Ayton was disengaged and generally bad, but he did once anchor a Suns team that was two wins from a championship. There’s a good defender (and an excellent rebounder) in there, if Redick can find him.

Reaves can be and has been better in the past. Doncic has certainly looked lighter and more engaged defensively at EuroBasket (although his nomination for Best Defender is still hilarious). If both can get within conversational earshot of decent (a big but plausible if), that would go a long way.

Overall, Reaves had an excellent regular season that came crashing down in the playoffs. He was slower than usual defensively and lost his shotmaking touch. But he was apparently dealing with a sprained big toe, and if you’ve ever had a bad toe, you know it completely saps your burst. Reaves had scored some playoff successes in the past (particularly in 2023). I’m not willing to write him off as some ceiling-lowerer yet.

Some feel Reaves is best suited as a sixth man; I understand but disagree. He’s too good, and the Lakers don’t have a natural replacement for him in the starting lineup. Marcus Smart’s body couldn’t handle starting, and Gabe Vincent is too much of an offensive downgrade.

So what will the Lakers do with Reaves? It might just come down to the money. Reaves is under contract for the upcoming season at just $14 million. He then has a player option in 2026-27 that he will turn down, even given the wildly depressed market for score-first two-guards.

Do the Lakers think he can be a core piece of the future after a big pay raise? Josh Giddey got $100 million over four years, and Naz Reid got $125 million over five years to be a perpetual Sixth Man of the Year contender; Reaves will be aiming higher than that.

For reference, $30 million in 2026-27 would be 18% of the $166 million projected salary cap, which feels palatable but far from ideal. Can Los Angeles risk betting on free agency remaining cool on a player like Reaves to squeeze a few extra million out of him?

(One minor point in LA’s favor: Cam Thomas is at least a superficially similar player who will be hitting the market at the same time. He could meet the needs of a team looking for that archetype. But teams haven’t been falling over themselves to acquire his services, which I’m sure Reaves’ representation has noticed.)

The Lakers aren’t overflowing with assets, and letting him walk for nothing can’t happen. But in the apron era, overvaluing second and third stars can be a death knell unless the supporting cast is elite. LA’s isn’t. Reaves might never even be an All-Star. The margin between good value and albatross is Slenderman thin, and nobody has quite figured out the balance. Even with rich new owners, the Lakers — like every team! — can’t afford to overpay the wrong guy.

Given the increased complexity of making trades in today’s NBA and Reaves’ current low (and expiring) contract, it’s hard to see how Los Angeles could construct a fair swap that returns anything close to the player they’d send out. It’s always possible some other team determined to sign Reaves could do some pre-agency work and make the Lakers an offer they’d find compelling enough to take, but I’m not sure who that suitor would be right now. Then again, a bad deal is better than nothing at all.

The Lakers still have one more year to make their evaluation. Assuming Reaves plays within expectations, my best guess is that the Lakers keep and re-sign Reaves, making him the second scorer next to Doncic for the medium term. Fans like him, and the front office is proud of their success in developing the undrafted player. He’s shown enough to me that I’m not as worried about the fit with Doncic as I initially was, and the Lakers are relatively short on scorers at the moment (LeBron’s eventual departure exacerbates the situation). Reaves is 27 with a strong track record of improvement. His age and ability to play off-ball next to bigger names mean that his contract shouldn’t ever be untradable.

Critics can be too quick to jettison young, efficient 20-point scorers, particularly those with off-ball chops, and swapping better skill for ostensibly better fit isn’t a surefire mathematical equation to success. For better or for worse, the Lakers have usually bet on the talent. This time, I’m inclined to agree.