{"id":264713,"date":"2025-09-03T15:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T15:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/264713\/"},"modified":"2025-09-03T15:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T15:47:10","slug":"lakers-trade-pitch-sends-austin-reaves-to-kings-for-36m-former-first-rounder-draft-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/264713\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers trade pitch sends Austin Reaves to Kings for $36M former first-rounder, draft capital"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lakers trade pitch sends Austin Reaves to Kings for $36M former first-rounder, draft capital<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a><\/p>\n

The Los Angeles Lakers have had quite the offseason as they look to build a roster around Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and LeBron James. While both superstars are central to their plans, the Lakers appear to be leaning more toward building around Don\u010di\u0107, given his long-term commitment to the franchise \u2014 and the fact that he, too, wants to win immediately.<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u201cDon\u010di\u0107 being just 26 gives the Lakers a far longer timeline to build a championship-contending team, but that doesn’t mean they can slow down and take their time. Don\u010di\u0107 told Lakers president Rob Pelinka and coach JJ Redick in May that he’s not interested in taking the slow approach in building a contender,\u201d CBS Sports\u2019 Jasmyn Wimbish wrote.<\/p>\n

As the season progresses, Austin Reaves will be a player to watch closely, as he’s likely entering the final year of his contract. There\u2019s little doubt that Reaves is poised for a massive payday next summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cReaves will be a free agent. There is zero chance he is picking up his $14.9 million player option, even if he plans to stay with the Lakers. Reaves reportedly wants to be paid in the Tyler Herro range of $30 million a year (and Herro is a good comp in a lot of ways). If Reaves shows this season that he can be a high-level scorer next to Luka Don\u010di\u0107 and can step up his game in the playoffs, the Lakers gladly will pay that much to keep him,\u201d wrote NBC Sports\u2019 Kurt Helin.<\/a><\/p>\n

Still, the Lakers could explore a trade if they\u2019re not fully committed to paying Reaves that kind of money next offseason.<\/p>\n

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\u201cReaves is in for a massive pay-day as he enters the third season of a four-year deal with a player-option for the 2026\u201327 season. He is set to earn a deal with a yearly average in the ballpark of $30 million, but another step in production could help his case for a larger deal,\u201d SI\u2019s Ethen Hutton wrote.<\/a> \u201cTargeting Murray gives the Lakers a three-point sniper on the wing, ultimately saving money without giving Reaves an extension. Murray also has a team option at the end of the season, giving L.A. a short-term commitment should the offense falter.\u201d<\/p>\n

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All in all, this seems like a calculated move for all parties involved. While trading Reaves would sting for the Lakers, losing him for nothing would hurt even more. At the very least, they\u2019d gain some offensive production and much-needed draft capital in return.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lakers trade pitch sends Austin Reaves to Kings for $36M former first-rounder, draft capital originally appeared on The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264714,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3792],"tags":[1013,7,4056,185,150,368,6,986,477,4055,492],"class_list":{"0":"post-264713","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sacramento-kings","8":"tag-austin-reaves","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-kings","11":"tag-lebron-james","12":"tag-los-angeles-lakers","13":"tag-luka-doncic","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-sacramento","16":"tag-sacramento-kings","17":"tag-sacramentokings","18":"tag-tyler-herro"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115141151630314681","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264713"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}