The Utah Jazz will have money to spend this summer and want to invest their money wisely. Austin Reaves is the obvious candidate because, while he’s not young, he’s young enough. He’s also shown improvement every single season. That alone gives him enough appeal as a target, but another reason why is that taking him from the Lakers would make the pick they owe the Jazz next year even better.

Jazz fans have known since the trade first happened in 2023 that the Lakers owe the Jazz a top-4-protected pick in 2027. It was perhaps the Jazz’s most exciting draft asset until the still-unbelievable Luka Doncic trade happened (even more unbelievable that Utah helped with that, but it’s not entirely their fault).

Once Doncic went to Hollywood, it seemingly sapped all value out of that pick. However, on second glance, not all hope may be lost for the Jazz. Reaves will likely become an unrestricted free agent this offseason, as his exponential improvement should line him up for a massive payday.

The Lakers have the inside track to re-sign him, but lately, their internal issues have shined very brightly for everyone to see. If they pay up for Reaves, they are in line to pay major money to Doncic and Reaves, a borderline elite scoring duo that would definitely require the best defensive personnel possible for the Lakers to legitimately compete, which would be hard with the money that would be tied up to the two of them.

It’s why the idea of trading Reaves while they can has been mentioned quite often in recent weeks. It would be hard to see how the Lakers would get equal value for Reaves, but even if it’s not likely, if a player has the chance to become a free agent, he should be considered a flight risk.

Yes, the Jazz would have similar questions if they signed Reaves too, but they have the assets to fix any potential problems. It would make for quite some poetic irony if signing Reaves led to Utah getting the defender they need from the lottery pick the Lakers give them.

Taking Reaves away from LA hits two birds with one stone: the Jazz get better and the Lakers get worse, giving the former a solid pick. For that reason, expect Utah to go all in and then some on Reaves this summer.

Pair that with LeBron’s possible departure & the Lakers would be in trouble

Many are paying attention to the Lakers this offseason because while Reaves’ free agency is technically hypothetical until he shows otherwise, LeBron James will objectively enter free agency. There isn’t nearly as much uncertainty surrounding Reaves as there is with LeBron.

For the first time in James’ career, his team opted not to extend him when it had the chance. One thing should be clear: that decision by the Lakers isn’t as stupid as one would think because James is old enough now that it’s not guaranteed they would get their money’s worth from him.

However, it’s also understandable that such a decision may have pushed him away from staying with the team when the season is over. With Doncic, the Lakers are good enough to withstand James bolting, but if both James and Reaves depart, that’s a big void to fill.

And if they can’t fill it, the Jazz would reap the benefits from such a scenario. If anything, while the Jazz would love to get the double boost of Reaves leaving the Lakers for them, they’ll gladly take Reaves leaving the Lakers period.