NBA Trade Rumors: Lakers Prefer to Keep Austin Reaves over Hachimura, Vanderbilt

The Los Angeles Lakers likely need to shake up their roster this summer, both from a salary-cap perspective and from the standpoint that the current roster only managed a berth in the Play-In Tournament and first-round exit in the playoffs this past season.

That means some role players likely will be on the move. But according to The Athletic’s Jovan Buha, one player likely to stick around is guard Austin Reaves (18:40 mark):

“If you look at their cap sheet, and you look at who are the tradable guys, it’s Rui Hachimura, Jarred Vanderbilt, Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell— if he opts in—and Gabe Vincent. … The mid-size contracts, those are the ones you cobble together to acquire another star or cobble together to acquire a higher-impact role player. … The Lakers have to trade someone, and when looking at the mid-size salaries, the guy they would love to keep is Reaves. Everyone else is moveable, to an extent.”

As it stands, the Lakers currently have an active roster cap for the 2024-25 season at around $181 million, though that figure will probably change depending on whether LeBron James and Russell exercise or decline their player options. Regardless, that has them perilously close to the $189.5 million second tax apron, a threshold they absolutely won’t want to cross.

The Lakers aren’t going to be a major factor in free agency for that reason, assuming James returns, but the team could look to move some contracts to bring back a third star to pair with LeBron and Anthony Davis.

Hachimura is scheduled to make $17 million next season, while Reaves will earn $12.9 million, Vincent $11 million and Vanderbilt $10.9 million. Moving on from the trio of Hachimura, Vincent and Vanderbilt would leave the Lakers fairly thin from a role-player perspective, but it would also give them $38.9 million in outgoing salaries in a trade, definitely in the ballpark of where most star players sit on the cap sheet.

Meanwhile, the 26-year-old Reaves is basically the perfect role player to accompany James, providing a two-way impact as a scrappy defender, secondary playmaker and solid perimeter shooter. He averaged 15.9 points and 5.5 assists last season, shooting 36.7 from three, and arguably was the team’s third-best player behind James and AD. He played all 82 games, making 57 starts.

So keeping him makes sense, unless there’s a deal the team simply can’t pass on and Reaves is the sticking point. More than likely, however, the Lakers will keep the young guard around and will retool the roster by moving a few different role players.