Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Lakers Advised to Trade Austin Reaves in Stunning Scenario

Originally posted on Hardwood Heroics | By Rex Villas | Last updated 5/18/24

Trae Young has become everyone’s favorite player on the trade rumors to link to the Los Angeles Lakers. It’s all speculation for now, but it’s always fun to think about how the Atlanta Hawks and the Lakers could make a trade that would end up with Young landing with Los Angeles.

Will the Los Angeles Lakers Move Austin Reaves?

Grant Hughes of Bleacher Report thinks that one way to make it all work with that end in mind is the Lakers giving up Austin Reaves along with Rui Hachimura, Gabe Vincent, and future picks in the 2029 (first rounder) and 2031 NBA Drafts (first rounder).

In this hypothetical, the Hawks put the ball in Dejounte Murray’s hands full-time, a tactic that yielded solid-to-good results in 2023-24. Atlanta put up a plus-0.8 net rating when Murray played without Young and was an even better plus-4.7 when Bogdan Bogdanović manned the other guard spot.

Reaves would offer a flexible third-guard option in that rotation, while Hachimura and a healthy Vincent would be useful role players on a Hawks roster that will likely be without Saddiq Bey (injury, restricted free agency) and Wesley Matthews (unrestricted).

It would be tough for Lakers fans to see Reaves leave Los Angeles but if that meant LA landing Trae Young, that should make it easier for the team’s supporters to accept. Reaves has two more guaranteed seasons in his contract (three if counting his player option for the 2026-27 NBA campaign).