NBA Trade Rumors: Austin Reaves Heads to Dallas in Blockbuster Proposal
Austin Reaves put the Los Angeles Lakers on his back while Luka Doncic (and LeBron James) were both out of the lineup earlier this season. At the same time, he raised his trade value a ton should the Lakers ever decide to rile up the fan base by dealing the beloved scoring guard.
One team that could desperately use Reaves’ ability to create offense is the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs are dead-last in offensive rating this season, trailing even the 1-9 Washington Wizards and the 1-8 Indiana Pacers in that department. Kyrie Irving is still a couple of months away from returning, and phenom Cooper Flagg’s rookie year is thus far being wasted on a 3-7 team.
With that, Dan Favale of Bleacher Report has proposed a massive deal that would see the Lakers trade Reaves to Dallas, in return for an enticing package. It would look something like this:
Dallas Mavericks receive:
- Austin Reaves
Los Angeles Lakers receive ‘some combination of’:
- Dereck Lively II
- Max Christie
- A first-round pick
The Mavs would add some greatly-needed scoring to their attack in this scenario, and “a Reaves-Cooper Flagg duo has a ton of offensive upside on its own. Adding in Kyrie Irving will make it better,” writes Favale. In addition, he notes Reaves has shown he can remain impactful even when he's the second or even third option.
The cons of this proposed deal for the Mavericks are that Reaves will undoubtedly opt out and become a free agent at season’s end, and will command a pretty penny (perhaps even max money) on the open market.
For the Lakers, they would get a player in Lively II, who, if he could ever stay healthy, could be their center of the future. He is an impactful rim protecting and rebounding presence on the defensive end of the floor, and is just scratching the surface of his potential. His defensive acumen in the middle would go a long way to replacing what they lost in Anthony Davis.
However, he’s like Davis in another way as well: Lively has plenty of trouble staying on the floor. He played just 36 games last season, and required surgery in July to clean up bone spurs in the same right foot that had a stress fracture during the season. He played just 55 games in his rookie year, and he’s already missed six games this season with knee troubles as well. Given their experience with AD (nicknamed “Street Clothes” by Charles Barkley), they might be scared off from taking on the injury-prone Lively.
Christie would also head back to the team that drafted him in this hypothetical scenario.
Photo: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
