With the NBA Draft next month and free agency a week after that, NBA trade rumors are starting to fly fast and furious around the league’s back channels. Here are a few worth noting.
Lakers likely keep Austin Reaves
Rob Pelinka faces a challenge this offseason: He needs to upgrade the roster around Luka Doncic and LeBron James — landing a rim-protecting, vertical spacing center is at the top of the list — but has limited trade assets to do it.
One player a lot of teams want is Austin Reaves, who averaged 20.2 points and 5.8 rebounds a game last season, shot 37.7% on 3-pointers and is on a steal of a contract that will cost just $13.9 million next season. The Lakers, however, wisely like Reaves as the third option, and it will take a lot to get him, something Dan Woike put well at the Los Angeles Times.
“The team has shown no interest in using Reaves in a trade that nets them anything less than a top-tier big, and there really aren’t any of those available, with the two most common names linked to them in the earliest stages of the offseason — Brooklyn’s Nic Claxton and Dallas’ Daniel Gafford.
Claxton would be the best available fit — he is just 26 and two seasons ago averaged 12.6 points a game on 70.5% shooting, grabbed 9.6 rebounds and blocked 2.5 shots a night. He’s an athletic, switchable defender who J.J. Redick could employ a variety of ways, however, he’s slight of build and with that not the screen setter that Gafford or others are. The cost for Claxton would be the Lakers’ 2030 first-round pick (plus matching salary, such as Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent).
Whether the Lakers land one of those two centers or someone like Clint Capela from Atlanta, don’t expect Reaves to be in that trade. It would take an All-Star level big to change that dynamic.
LaMelo Ball headed West?
Lonzo Ball was on the What an Experience podcast and dropped this:
“I lowkey got Dylan Harper going to the Hornets and I got Melo going to the Clips.”
Um… no. First, there is zero chance Dylan Harper makes it past No. 2 on the board, he has put himself in his own tier on that front, and the Hornets pick at No. 4. San Antonio will take him (making their guard rotation an impressive De’Aaron Fox, Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle, and Harper ho might be the best of the group in a couple of years). If the Spurs trade that pick (hello, Milwaukee), that team will be trading to get Harper (Charlotte could try to trade up to No. 2, but the cost would be exorbitant).
Second, LaMelo to the Clippers doesn’t make much sense from the Clips’ perspective. Los Angeles is looking to keep its long-term books clear to make a pivot after the Kawhi Leonard/James Harden era ends (likely the summer of 2027, maybe sooner). Ball has four years, $168.7 million remaining on his max extension, running through 2029. Having LaMelo would take the ball out of Harden’s hands, and while the youngest Ball brother averaged 25.2 points and 7.4 assists a game he is not seen around the league as a guy who contributes to winning because of his lack of defense and style of play.
Other rumors of note:
• With Boston likely trimming payroll this summer, look for a lot of interest from playoff teams in Jrue Holiday, an elite defensive guard who has helped the Bucks and Celtics win rings. The Rockets and Spurs might be teams to watch.
• Interesting comment from the well-connected Sam Amick of The Athletic on any potential Giannis Antetokounmpo trade and how the Bucks GM plans to play it (from his appearance on The Ringer NBA Podcast):
“Jon Horst is going to go for blood here, I’m telling you. He just got a new extension. He has the organization’s backing. Jon is not going to just try to be on good terms with Giannis—he’s trying to do right by the Bucks. And that means that if every scenario in play leaves the other team so gutted that Giannis might not actually be in that much better of a situation, then maybe that’s where he looks at the room and says, “All right, let me stay put.”
• Speaking of an Antetokounmpo trade, the buzz that the Warriors likely sit this one out — unless the Greek Freak pushes an “only to Golden State” agenda — has now been confirmed by multiple sources. The reality is the Warriors know they can’t win a bidding war with Houston, San Antonio, and Brooklyn, so unless they can get a friendly deal, it’s not happening. If you think the Warriors might get a friendly deal, reread the note above this one.
• Finally, on the Antetokounmpo front, talk in league circles about this is relatively quiet because everyone is waiting for Antetokounmpo to make his call. The Bucks aren’t going to trade him unless he asks out and that has yet to happen. It may not happen, Antetokounmpo values loyalty and has shown that in the past. He also values winning. Those two things are in conflict, but it’s his call.
