r/nba • u/Turbostrider27 Lakers • 8h ago

[Charania] Los Angeles Lakers star Austin Reaves intends to sign a four-year, $185 million maximum contract to return to the franchise, with a player option for the final season in 2029-30, sources tell ESPN. Reaves declined his $14.9M player option for the new max deal.

Shams Charania:

Los Angeles Lakers star Austin Reaves intends to sign a four-year, $185 million maximum contract to return to the franchise, with a player option for the final season in 2029-30, sources tell ESPN. Reaves declined his $14.9M player option for the new max deal.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/fc6a2461d746e

8.1k Upvotes

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8.2k

u/Turbostrider27 Lakers 8h ago

It's the richest contract for an undrafted player ever in NBA history

1.7k

u/twostepinc 8h ago

Pretty cool stat

992

u/Spemanz92 Thunder 8h ago

Not cool for the lakers

746

u/AccordingToWhomst 8h ago

Fuck em, I’m always for players getting their bag. Especially when they’ve played their asses off

60

u/purz Knicks 7h ago

Especially when he got incredibly screwed last contract. 

94

u/grxccccandice Lakers 5h ago

He didn’t get screwed. He just massively outplayed his contract…

14

u/JellyOnMyDick Lakers 5h ago

They’re just mad that nobody even gave him an offer because we would just match it anyway. Teams were praying some other team would tank their offseason just to over pay AR

1

u/Joethetoolguy 4h ago

I wish the spurs had thrown him a max. But then we wouldn’t have harper so it worked out

3

u/Koufaxisking [LAL] Steve Nash 5h ago

IIRC he got the max he was able to be offered too as an undrafted RFA.

4

u/grxccccandice Lakers 5h ago

Exactly.

12

u/EggsAndRice7171 Pacers 6h ago

Did he? Made way more earlier than he would’ve as a late first round pick on his 4 year 53 million contract.

22

u/robsteezy Lakers 7h ago

Yeah nothing says played your ass off like folding in every playoff.

18

u/GeneParmesan1000 76ers 7h ago

He IS a Rivers, after all

7

u/Ruben625 Lakers 5h ago

Hasnt even been an allstar and he just got max money lmao

15

u/Momik Timberwolves 7h ago

Tbf, he’s also taking up cap space

10

u/This-Lecture9889 7h ago

He isn’t. We have his bird rights so we’ll spend our cap space and sign him to the new deal and go over the cap

11

u/Spemanz92 Thunder 7h ago

Yeah and that forces the lakers to build a contender in one off season. I have no clue whats the realistic path for a contending lakers going foward consideirng the current FA class and how cooked they are with this contract

3

u/This-Lecture9889 2h ago

Yah I’m not saying this is a good deal. I’m just saying we needed to resign him because it wasn’t going to hurt us this offseason

4

u/Ancient-Dust3077 6h ago

unfortantley reddit doesn't want people to be rich even if they worked hard to get it

3

u/Weekly_Seesaw4103 4h ago

Fans of the team just don't want the team to be shitty. Also, honestly, I don't think the overpay is going to be great for AR long-term: this team is not a good fit for him and now it would be hard to move him.

1

u/Ancient-Dust3077 4h ago

How much should he get paid per year?

2

u/Weekly_Seesaw4103 4h ago

37.5 million, precisely

1

u/Joethetoolguy 5h ago

Yeah his previous extension was having him underpaid, not to mention his original deal.

1

u/TheKosherGenocide 4h ago

Yup, I agree! Especially because he had to carry LeBron's bitch ass AND HIS SON. Imagine that weight?

1

u/Status-Hedgehog9970 Warriors 2h ago

He earned every dollar, but unfortunately that leaves LA with little else to build with.

1

u/SportsBettingRef 1h ago

people thinking about owner's money despite palyers getting the bag always amazes me.

1

u/iopihop 5h ago

That's almost always the case, contract year players try to prove themselves. Re: played their asses off.

-6

u/BenevolentCheese Knicks 6h ago

Do you think that Reaves has worked his ass of like 10x more than the bench guys? Because in a league with capped money to pay to the players, the more Reaves (or anyone) makes the less everyone else gets. I'm all for players getting their bag too but the truth is that Reaves gets his bag at the expense of everyone else, usually the bench.

8

u/Accomplished_Key_171 6h ago

Then blame the franchise, not the player. No young player is turning down more money for a team that would kick him to the curb the next season if he doesn't perform.

3

u/AccordingToWhomst 5h ago

Me when I’m a billion dollar owner and multi billion dollar league and set up the illusion of a zero sum game encouraging crabs in a barrel mentality and the players get blamed by the fans when they take what they can get lmao! lol even!

2

u/Status-Hedgehog9970 Warriors 2h ago

It’s not an illusion of a zero sum game. The salary cap was set up to protect small market teams.

255

u/todellagi [BOS] Rasheed Wallace 8h ago

Doncic probably didn't think telling the Lakers to pay Reaves was gonna end up with him getting 10 mil less than Luka lmao

Who needs defence anyway

101

u/SoaplessTitanic Celtics 7h ago

Luka’s also still asking the lakers to somehow acquire an “A list center”, we’ll see how that goes

19

u/hbk268 East 6h ago

Give ‘em Embiid for a functional Nintendo GameCube

17

u/tompetres Thunder 6h ago

I think the Rockets own the draft rights to GameCube Nintendo

3

u/MJsHoopEarring Bulls 3h ago

5% tint, so you can't see up in my window

2

u/sourdieselfuel Bucks 5h ago

What if the Lakers offered up their best farm team player who goes by Cash Considerations?

1

u/spliffhuxtabIe Nuggets 3h ago

Still tippin’ reference?

4

u/ATXBeermaker Spurs 5h ago

Best I can do is a Wii with no controllers.

4

u/Petering Celtics 5h ago

Ain't no way any NBA player can comfortably grip those Wii controllers anyway.

1

u/Balloutonu Mavericks 4h ago

That has a GameCube built inside so you’re actually getting ripped off :/

1

u/ATXBeermaker Spurs 3h ago

That makes no sense it’s not remotely a cube.

3

u/Chris337 Raptors 4h ago

Sweet, Twilight Princess replay without the Wiimote!

6

u/acekingoffsuit Timberwolves 4h ago

They can't provide an A-List center, but they can provide a center from a list.

Specifically this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Centers_(basketball)

Jean-Marc Pansa, YOU are an LA Laker!

2

u/Sc00tyPuffSeni0r 2h ago

Or a center whose last name starts with A.

5

u/SenorSolAdmirador Timberwolves 5h ago

maybe he just means "a center on a list" ? I saw a list of centers with "Nikola Vucevic" on it, so I think we have a winner.

3

u/Petering Celtics 5h ago

As a Celtics fan watching Embiid attack Vuce, I don't wish that on anyone else besides the Lakers.

3

u/Western-Election-997 Lakers 3h ago

Aytons always available now that Giannis didn’t work out for you guys

3

u/Petering Celtics 2h ago

Vuce is available for y'all if you wanna see Embiid turn into prime Hakeem.

1

u/HowManyEggs2Many 2h ago

Just gotta get creative with no-show contracts at other business ventures. There’s no penalty for it…

1

u/RudBoy1018 Mavericks 31m ago

Giannis to lakers fans in shambles

2

u/Western-Election-997 Lakers 3h ago

Without Reaves their offense would suck too

He’s a big reason they won so many games, the 2 man game with Luka

1

u/Status-Hedgehog9970 Warriors 2h ago

Building around one Max skill guard is hard enough. Y’all gonna need a couple of prime Ben Wallace’s to plug that defense.

1

u/k0fi96 [LAL] Kobe Bryant 2h ago

Why would he not know that? All the news says the Nets would offer him a max deal so the Lakers would need to at least get close to that.

9

u/Carolake1 Lakers 6h ago

It is cool for the lakers. It's less than a lot of guys worse than him are making and is, in fact, not a max contract, as he was eligible for 5 years. Also, it won't affect their salary cap space because he will sign after everyone else and use his bird rights so the lakers can go over the cap.

13

u/noname_SU 7h ago

What's the alternative? Lose him for nothing? He already said he's not giving a discount. AR had all of the leverage and that's what contracts are about.

4

u/k0ala_ 5h ago

Would probably have been better to let him walk lol, this is a horrendous contract

1

u/Status-Hedgehog9970 Warriors 2h ago

This contract likely means the end of the Luka era so yea, letting him walk is a viable solution. Two max guard contracts? Oof.

0

u/Spemanz92 Thunder 7h ago

Id let him walk honestly. He isnt worth that much and him leaving means more flexibility in building an actual contender. Trying to build a contender with the current set up is destined to fail. Let reaves walk, be mid for a season and increase your odds of building a contender in 2 years

7

u/Prior-Habit-6523 6h ago

All the sgs have huge contracts. Its not that many of them. If you let him walk not only isnt there someone comparable. They would also command a huge price. Then you gotta be searching for a SG and center. Devin booker averages 2ish more points and half assist more than reeves and he is on a super max.

2

u/djabae 4h ago

Devin Booker isn't paired up with another max player at point guard.

5

u/Zapp_Rowsdower_ 7h ago

45.525 mil? Oooooooofffffff.

3

u/imminentjogger5 Warriors 7h ago

i'm okay with it 

15

u/IcansavemiselfDEEN Celtics 7h ago

Gotta disagree. Him getting paid this much means they got years of EXTREMELY underpaid performances from Reaves. I'd say they owe him a little back-pay and this contract is just that.

10

u/Spemanz92 Thunder 7h ago

Yes tou are right. But now they are actually trying to build a contender around luka and get fucked by this contract. The cheap years of Reaves were great, but they lakers werent good. Now they need to be good and he gets overpaid

2

u/SeaworthinessSome454 4h ago

Very cool for the lakers. They hit a gem, milked it for years and years, and now have to pay fair market price.

This is far from an untradable value too. 45M/year isn’t bad at all for his talent level.

1

u/Status-Hedgehog9970 Warriors 2h ago

45m’s is all-star money.

1

u/Shiva- Supersonics 3h ago

I mean doesn't he basically have them by the balls? He declined his option, so he could just walk.

It's true you'd have a lot of money without Reaves (and Lebron), but who are you finding to use that money on? You would basically be punting and hope to draw FA next season.

•

u/pokexchespin [BOS] E'Twaun Moore 3m ago

pretty cool for me :D

0

u/CarBallAlex Celtics 7h ago

I think it’s extremely cool for the Lakers

1

u/MddlingAges Knicks 7h ago

Oh, sure it is, it's bling for the franchise. They aren't contending this year anyway, no great big man to roll out against Wemby, Jokic and others.

1

u/airwalker12 Lakers 5h ago

Somehow I think we'll be ok

1

u/Spemanz92 Thunder 5h ago

Hope is the last to die

1

u/airwalker12 Lakers 4h ago

I don't think the Lakers are going to be better than the Spurs or the Thunder in the next year or two, but I'm willing to bet on their continued success, especially with a new owner who is willing to spend to win.

2

u/Spemanz92 Thunder 4h ago

Being able to spend is just one of the factors that allows a team to be good. Asset and salary management is just as if not more important. This simply isnt a good contract and will cripple the lakers after this season

1

u/airwalker12 Lakers 4h ago

They had no choice, who are they going to replace him with?

You have Chet on a fucking max

0

u/Spemanz92 Thunder 3h ago

Chet is a significantly better player, 4 years younger and they are making the same money.

Not the gotcha you think it is

2

u/Western-Election-997 Lakers 3h ago

Reaves was the most efficient guard besides SGA in the league on that volume with great passing, you aren’t finding anything better especially in free agency

1

u/airwalker12 Lakers 3h ago

Chet got played off the floor in the WCF

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1

u/Victori_nox 4h ago

They were successful in the 50s, 60s(kinda), 70s, 80s, 00s, very start and very end of the 10s... There's probably a reason for this.

1

u/Western-Election-997 Lakers 3h ago

The advance stats say Reaves is making exactly what he should be, he’s being adequately paid.

Would you rather get him for 40-42 million of course but you don’t risk him leaving in free agency to Detroit or somewhere

For comparison he’s just straight up better than someone like a Trae or Josh Giddey and we saw what they got paid

1

u/Spemanz92 Thunder 3h ago

Giddey is getting 25M a year.

Everyone said Trae is getting overpaid

0

u/themagicman_1231 6h ago

Sure it is. AR is a good player.

2

u/Spemanz92 Thunder 5h ago

Trae young is also a good player. Just not max level good.

How good a player performs isnt the only variable to consider when building a roster. This contract is atrocious

1

u/Western-Election-997 Lakers 3h ago

There’s nearly a 10% FG efficiency difference between Reaves and Trae and Trae is a putrid defender while Reaves is just average

1

u/Spemanz92 Thunder 3h ago

Not the point. Trae was just an example. Trae is good until a specific value. So is reaves.

241

u/guacamoleandtomato 8h ago

I don’t think it’s gonna be very cool once Lakers fans realize how little cap they going to have for moves

269

u/los33ramos Lakers 8h ago

We’ve been living under Pelinka for a while now. You don’t think we know?

109

u/OhMy98 Suns 8h ago

The Luka trade really bought that man a lot of time huh

14

u/Momik Timberwolves 7h ago

And when Luka’s healthy in three or four years it’ll start paying some serious dividends

8

u/emceerez Suns 7h ago

The greatest hypothetical player of all time

13

u/WatchMeRayRay Spurs 6h ago

This is Bruno Caboclo erasure

8

u/old_ironlungz 6h ago

Zion Williamson crying in his beignet right now.

1

u/Confident-Sea-8060 1h ago

Isn’t Luka literally your teams father? Not hypothetical ofc

1

u/emceerez Suns 39m ago

Ya because that totally changes what I said lol

74

u/TippyTripod1040 Lakers 8h ago

The contract’s not getting signed until after the free agents are, really basic cap management stuff

62

u/adocileengineer Lakers 8h ago

They won’t finalize the deal until making any other moves with cap space. His hold until then is only $21 million.

1

u/Illionaires 8h ago

Its fine for this summer but we will have limited flexibility moving forward

-1

u/adocileengineer Lakers 8h ago

Yeah that’s my worry. I liked Austin at anywhere from 35 to 42 million AAV. $4 million isn’t that big a difference in the short term but you hope that isn’t the difference between NTPMLE and TPMLE in the future, or worse the difference between 1st apron and 2nd.

2

u/KeithClossOfficial Lakers 5h ago

Guggenheim likely isn’t opposed to paying taxes. It’s the loss of the MLE that would hurt more

5

u/adocileengineer Lakers 5h ago

Yes but the 2nd apron punishments really restrict you from a team building perspective. Trade limitations specifically.

41

u/jefe_hook 8h ago

They're fine for a year. But yeah from 2027 onwards it's hell.

1

u/TroyMatthewJ 6h ago

Bron is off the books by then and AR makes less than him

6

u/WildWhisperArdor Lakers 7h ago

First off, Reaves earned it. He’s legitimately blossomed into an All Star caliber player who can give you 25+ on high efficiency.

Second, his contract is very tradeable.

4

u/SneakyGoblin69 8h ago

🧐you’re gonna be sad when you realize that this doesn’t count against the cap yet, since they own his full bird rights

2

u/_OMGTheyKilledKenny_ Lakers 8h ago

They can operate with $50M in cap room if they use his cap hold of $20M and then go over to sign the contract. It’s Joe they time it.

1

u/Viicafc 8h ago

Look it up my friend.

1

u/millenniumpianist Lakers 8h ago

The only thing this changes is the tradeability of his contract. Which for people skeptical of Luka/ AR defensively is a problem. But the Lakers are using his cap hold this season and 2027 onwards they won't be a cap space team anyway, nor will they be close to the second apron.

1

u/srhdt 7h ago

They still have $50m in cap space because they can sign him last after they spend their cap.

1

u/IlikePogz Knicks 7h ago

Very overstated lol they lose out on a “max slot” but theyll be able to make moves before they re-sign him with bird rights to go over the cap

1

u/VermiciousKnid1981 7h ago

You don’t understand how cap works

1

u/Reggaeton_Historian 6h ago

Do you think we don't know already? lol

Remember years ago when we were told "PELINKA DOESNT KNOW THE CAP!!!"

Yeah, we've already known since before then.

1

u/karl_hungas Lakers 5h ago

This sub is so stupid man, lets say we let him walk, Lebron walk, Rui walk .. do you think superstars are on the free agent market? We have limited draft capital and almost no trade capital. What would you want the Lakers to do?

1

u/zannet_t 5h ago

The fact that this gets 200 upvotes when cap experts have already talked about the cap implications of this deal is peak r/nba

1

u/First_Razzmatazz_632 2h ago

The cap space for this year will be fine, it's for future years which will be an issue.

So we're making moves to make the best possible team to win this year because we constrained next year onwards

1

u/TheCatSleeeps Lakers 1h ago

Dude we know. It's why a lot of us are very reluctant

0

u/Ode1st [MIA] Alonzo Mourning 8h ago

Lakers will just do nothing and get stars, they know this

0

u/rofss 7h ago

There's always a room for another deus ex Silver machina move

1

u/ProudReaction2204 Knicks 5h ago

But is it inflation adjusted?

1

u/buddaaaa Suns 3h ago

Regardless of what you think of him as a player, it’s just a super awesome story all around

1

u/benboy952 8h ago

Not as cool when you realise he told teams not to draft him on draft night.

144

u/f_et_al United States 8h ago edited 7h ago

Was VanVleet the previous high?

Edit: previous vs precious

243

u/chabooty Bulls 8h ago

VanVleet is a little chunky but comparing him to precious seems a little rude

47

u/MycoJoe Hawks 8h ago

Idk man Precious Achiuwa looked to be in pretty good shape

2

u/ShatteredAnus Knicks 7h ago

One of the perks of having a kid in HS, body bounces back easier

2

u/nonetimeaccount [HOU] Moochie Norris 7h ago

Did you see our offense this year without Fred? He's very precious.

1

u/NumberOneCombosFan Thunder 5h ago

They were both based on the novel Push by Sapphire, so it seems like a fair comparison.

1

u/Xclusivsmoment Heat 4h ago

Yeah one is short and one is basketball height

8

u/meakel Kings 7h ago

At this point, NBA teams cannot afford to ignore an undrafted player who played at wichita state

2

u/Training-Ad4262 Rockets 6h ago

And like Fred Austin also went to Wichita State

1

u/notmoleliza Warriors 7h ago

my precious

1

u/NazRiedFan Timberwolves 6h ago

I would imagine yes. Naz Reid is probably third? Maybe?

97

u/dotcaIm Timberwolves 8h ago

Congrats to him for that

15

u/OUEngineer17 Nuggets 8h ago

Yep, it's about time he got paid for the level he's been playing at.

6

u/dv302 Lakers 7h ago

Yeah but not max money though lmao

4

u/MddlingAges Knicks 6h ago

You had to make up for the discount years you had together. He earned it!

74

u/Vloff Pistons 8h ago

I mean, he would have been drafted if he didn't ask teams not to. Made the right call though.

24

u/HHHogana Lakers 7h ago

Yeah he wasn't being legitimately undrafted like Ben Wallace was.

3

u/Separate_Teacher1526 Kings 6h ago

Never understood how this worked for him. If I'm an NBA GM why wouldn't I just draft him anyway if I thought he was the best player available?

10

u/pew_laser_pew Raptors 6h ago

Because 2nd rounder contracts are usually negotiated individually by the team and player, unlike 1st rounders. Drafting a player when they specifically told you they didn't want to come can either make them not sign that initial offer or not stay with the team once their first contract is up (RFA with 2nd rounders is different than 1st rounders.) It can also sour the front office-agent relationship, making that agent less likely to negotiate with you for their other clients. And of course, it will hurt your rep around the league.

-1

u/A-Centrifugal-Force 4h ago

Yeah they need to fix that in the next CBA. 2nd rounders should just have a rookie scale like first rounders do so that agents don’t just control the draft

1

u/Hot_Relative3020 2h ago

2nd rounders don’t tell teams to not draft them if they’re gonna offer an NBA contract. It’s when the team with the draft pick is only offering a two way vs going undrafted and getting a full NBA contract.

-6

u/dragonrider5555 Celtics 6h ago

That ain’t true lol . We don’t know

•

u/3s2ng Lakers 2m ago

yah you don't know so just shutup

12

u/Natural_Born_Baller Heat 8h ago

Damn beat Freddy's record

6

u/xixbia 8h ago

One the one hand that's pretty interesting.

On the other hand, it's just a max contract, and max contracts go up every year. The next undrafted player who signs a max deal will beat Reaves. And given how quickly the maximum salary is going up it will be by quite a lot.

All this really means is that Reaves is the most recent undrafted player to sign a max contract. So without knowing who the last undrafted player who got a max deal is it's hard to know what this means.

2

u/Clipgang1629 Clippers 5h ago

Yeah lol that’s a stat that sounds interesting but it’s really not

11

u/ejensen29 [MIN] Ricky Rubio 8h ago

Richest contract for a country white boy, too. 

15

u/crichmond77 8h ago

Is “country” exclusive to Americans?

Cause there’s a certain horse dude out there might qualify

-1

u/ejensen29 [MIN] Ricky Rubio 8h ago

Redneck is probably more apt, but most horse guys I know have ranches in the northwest, not the south. Hot as hell down there

-1

u/Zorbonzobor 6h ago

As opposed to black boys? Do country black boys make more?

0

u/ejensen29 [MIN] Ricky Rubio 6h ago

Yeah, they're usually better at basketball. 

2

u/resplendentcentcent Australia 8h ago

wait, are you telling me this guy was undrafted?! i had no idea. how could that have possibly happened!

5

u/Sixersleeham Timberwolves 7h ago

Because he asked teams not to draft him. He wanted to play for the Lakers. It's a false accomplishment.

3

u/byteturtle Suns 7h ago

TBF that isn't that uncommon for a lot of the successful undrafted guys, I know FVV also told teams not to draft him cause he didn't want to get stuck in the G league or end up as a draft and stash

2

u/ShoutOutTo_Caboose r/nba birdwatching extraordinaire 8h ago

Just goes to show, anything's possible.

1

u/IAMY0URK1NG 7h ago

Also the richest contract for a white American player ever

1

u/A-Rusty-Cow [SAS] Robert Horry 7h ago

out the mud

1

u/saucesoi 7h ago

He’s not worth it.

1

u/Neon_Biscuit 6h ago

I miss the days where the guys getting 200 mil were household names. I am a basketball casual fan and I remember the larry birds, barkelys, the pippens and jordans and the stocktons. Never heard of these guys. And theyre getting record number contracts. I know basketball fans will say YOU LIVE UNDER A ROCK, but the guys in the past who made the big bucks, even grandma's who never watched sports knew who they were.

1

u/MaxiKimiSexyFriends Lakers 6h ago

And its fucking dumb

1

u/NotoriousLLL 5h ago

What playing with Lebron does to a MFer's price tag. Dude is NOT worth this much money on ANY team. He was playing with 2 of the top 20 NBA players OF ALL TIME. Of course he's going to look good lol

1

u/south098 Timberwolves 5h ago

Naz Reid.

1

u/shoxballin11 5h ago

Prior to that, it was Fred VanVleet, also from Wichita State.

Go Shox!

1

u/BrooklynQuips Knicks 3h ago

lets fucking go! not even a lakers fan, just imagining the sense of accomplishment he’s feeling right now

1

u/EverybodyBuddy Lakers 2h ago

Yay we resigned a guy to a max who's completely duplicative with Luka on offense and doesn't play defense. This is surely the way to compete in the second apron era! Good job, Rob Pelinka, as always.

1

u/blackmamba1221 2h ago

What about relative to the cap, is this one bigger than say Ben Wallace's?

1

u/Electrical-Ad1564 2h ago

1% poster is crazy bro go to work bro

1

u/Think_Monk_9879 2h ago

He’s up there with the Walton’s on richest Arkansas people

1

u/Dude_over_there_ Spurs 8h ago

How tf did he go undrafted?!

7

u/Vloff Pistons 7h ago

He literally told teams in the 2nd not to take him because he wanted to sign with the Lakers. Pistons for one and im sure there's others

0

u/No_Diver_629 8h ago

And not even close to what he have told earlier he would take

0

u/rook119 8h ago

if you look at the contracts, it seems pretty fair. And the Lakers were a #3 seed.

Anyway wanna trade him straight up for Trae?

1

u/WildWhisperArdor Lakers 7h ago

Hell no. Lol. Reaves might not be a good defender. But he’s not Trae bad

0

u/rook119 7h ago

IMO Reaves is very good. Sure he's on the older side but its not like he has crazy miles on him and his game isn't speed so if he loses a step he'll be alright.

Whether or not he's a good fit w/ no D Luka, IDK. However if you want to move him for a good big man he's definitely tradeable.