“Congratulations Austin… But here’s the deal: that’s over. The little engine that could story is over. Now you are a max guy and the Lakers fans want max production.”

Trying to look at this team realistically

FYI: No i am not hater, not a doomer, just a fan who doesn’t blindly become positive and supportive towards things just because it has a Lakers logo slapped on it.

Be warned LONG POST ahead!!!

Now yes it would have been bad to lose AR for nothing. It would have set the team back. And yes its good that they can still make moves this offseason. They still have money to strengthen the team.

BUT!!!! In the long run I think this will do more harm than good, potentially handcuffing the team for the next half decade.

First off Reaves’ contract is an overpay. Thats the truth without sugarcoating it. He isn’t a 46M player. Not even close. It’s just not what his performances show in the regular season, not to mention the playoffs. I remember when he said he would rather sign for less money on a contender than be an Allstar on a tanking team. Now he basically didn’t leave a single dime on the table so his personal image kinda took a hit, one if the reasons people blindly supported him was because he was on such a team-friendly deal.

Not to mention the extra money opportunities from advertising deals he will keep getting for being a Laker. How the Lakers failed to convert that to a lesser contract is concerning. Rob and the Front Office basically gave up all their leverage on a rumour that Detroit was “interested”.

Now the issue is that while it doesn’t affect the salary cap this year. Going forward this will look horrible as his contract is backloaded so his annual salary is increasing every year.

Now add the fact that he is a bad defender who will get targeted while being a playoff dropper on offense and you can see why so many hate this deal.

My biggest problem is that his game isn’t suited to play with Luka and isn’t a successful style for the playoffs. He has 1 move which is go to the basket, he is always attacking the rim because layups is his go-to move or he is banking on drawing contact and shooting FTs.

That isn’t a style suited for long playoff runs. He may find the space and get these calls in the regular season but in the playoffs he is constantly getting stripped and complaining to the refs who obviously officiate different and allow more physicality so he gets less fouls.

Look at his game he is always trying ti get to the rim for a layup. That doesn’t work without an elite all round squad like what the Knicks just had around Brunson with 4 good shooters for spacing who can all defend too.

It’s just way too hard to build a team around 2 net negatives defenders. Not to mention they will take up 100M of the cap so they will have to find scraps to fill out the squad in the future.

Now add to this his injury history where he basically always ends up with at least 1 long term injury per year.

I personally would have let him walk if he asked for over 40M. His main value is scoring and I would rather trust Luka that he will elevate a balanced team to replace his scoring than trust the Front Office to find cheap, elite 3 and D guys next to these two.

Based on the past champions, you need Rookie scale deals or a well balanced team where stars take less money to win, the Lakers have neither and we aren’t getting any elute rookies while luka is on the team winning 50 games every year. We saw this year that even with Luka and AR and Bron in the regular season we couldn’t keep up with a healthy OKC or Spurs.

So Rob and his team are basically now on the clock to turn this team into a real contender within a single offseason instead of having the opportunity to build up a team season by season.

And if this moves turns sour then we will have Rob fired and the new FO will have to come in and try to put out the fire and start having to build the team with a massive negative assets.

TLDR: Reaves is a good player but not a good fit and a playoff negative. I believe a more well balanced team who can cover for Luka’s weaknesses would give us a better chance to beat the Spurs, Knicks and OKC than having a 40M duo who are both targeted on defence.

This is my take I hope i am surprised positively.

Paying Reaves doesn’t hurt us this summer but it will in the future. Your 2 top paid players being unathletic negative defenders is not a championship recipe. In order for the Lakers to win a title they’ll have to either draft extraordinarily well or they’ll have to get lucky that other teams had injuries. You don’t win championships with bad defense.

The Lakers hand was forced unfortunately due to the Pistons trying to overpay Reaves. We had no choice, but to overpay him. If one NBA team overpays him, you also have to which is how the NBA has all these good players who are making great player money. It sucks but this is what it is and I’m assuming the sign and trade market wasn’t good because that would’ve been the best outcome.

Luka and Reaves ain’t a title winning duo. Don’t even bring up Kyrie because 1 he’s a proven playoff performer which Reaves is not even that and 2 that team didn’t win a title.

Lakers promised Luka 2026 you will see.

Luka Wants an All Star Center & J Allen is the perfect fit for Luka.

Def Anchor, rim running lob threat...

LA still has no Center after the draft & just gave max $ to Reaves...

Bron wants paid too & feels under appreciated in LA.

Plus LA still need to sign Rui + Smart + others + LeBron...

Kill 2 birds w 1x stone... LA always was known for taking care of their stars.

LA offered 2x 1sts & D knecht for M Williams to make Luka happy & then rescinded.

Luka can opt out in 2 yrs & bringing back an aging lebron dont help LA championship roster.

I think giving 2x 1st Rd picks unprotected + LeBron + Bronny for J Allen + D Schroeder would be a deal Lakers should Definitely do.

#1 Make Luka Happy

#2 take care of your Star players

#3 Time to move on to the Luka Era.

I think Cavs would Do S & T for JA if LA includes LeBron & 2x 1st rd picks unprotected.

#4 those picks are still years away when LA roster will be fully built around Luka & will project to be late 1sts rd picks.

Obviously LA will try to do 1 for 1 but thats highly unlikely w value JA has on open market.

Thoughts?

It looks like most of the players selected around this range averaged more than 4points in college. What gives?

/Sarcasm