{"id":159766,"date":"2025-09-21T11:11:02","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T15:11:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=159766"},"modified":"2025-09-21T11:11:02","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T15:11:02","slug":"lakers-robert-horry-austin-reaves-trade-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/09\/21\/lakers-robert-horry-austin-reaves-trade-rumors\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Hall of Famer Suggests Bold Backcourt Breakup"},"content":{"rendered":"

The whispers around <\/span>Austin Reaves<\/span><\/a>\u2019 future have only grown with his decision to <\/span>decline an extension<\/span><\/a> and aim for a hefty payday next summer. While he and the Lakers remain open to continuing their partnership, one franchise legend believes it\u2019s time to move on from the undrafted gem.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers Hall of Famer Suggests Bold Backcourt Breakup<\/h2>\n

Robert Horry: Lakers Should Trade Austin Reaves<\/b><\/h3>\n

In a recent episode of his <\/span>\u201cBig Shot Bob\u201d podcast<\/span><\/a>, Hall of Famer and seven-time champion Robert Horry <\/a><\/span>called for the Lakers to trade Reaves<\/span><\/a> to avoid redundancy with <\/span>Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Lakers were smart, they would do a sign-and-trade. And the reason I say that is because when you have a team with two players who are pretty much the same, meaning Luka and AR, and I’m not saying they have the same skill set. They play the same position, they pretty much do the same thing. It’s a wash. And don’t get me wrong, I love AR and I think he could play, but you don’t need two of the same players. You think about the NBA is all about a fit. You look at all the great teams, they all have something different. There’s no two no Jokers. There’s no two Giannises, no two Shai Gilgeouses.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reaves\u2019 polarizing stance among Lakers fans and former players comes ahead of another pivotal season for the 27-year-old. The fourth-year guard averaged a career-high 20.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists last season on .460\/.377\/.877 splits. He is not only hoping to grow on his strong campaign, but also looking for a significant salary bump next offseason: upwards of <\/span>$30 million per year<\/span><\/a> on his next deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a strong commitment for the Lakers to make. But if things go well this coming season, they may have no choice but to bring Reaves his money.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Apr
Apr 11, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) dunks against Houston Rockets forward Cam Whitmore (7) and guard Aaron Holiday (0) during the second half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lakers Reinforce Stance on Trading Reaves<\/b><\/h3>\n

The Lakers previously made it abundantly clear: they aren\u2019t moving on from Austin Reaves. That stance was <\/span>reiterated this week by insider Anthony Irwin<\/span><\/a>, who confirmed that\u2014for the most part\u2014they wouldn\u2019t budge on trading him.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Seeing as LA could potentially lose Reaves for nothing, they’d be remiss not to consider trading him at some point this season, especially if it becomes clear he and Doncic’s athleticism concerns are too much to overcome in pursuit of a championship.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Lakers quickly cut any talks for Reaves short this summer and would only consider trading him unless he was part of the package for a bona fide star. That won’t stop teams from asking about him this season and, if for any reason those questions about Reaves and Doncic linger, LA will have to take those requests more seriously.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The team\u2019s criteria for trading Reaves\u2014along with the reality of the situation\u2014presents a host of issues that only keeping him would solve. On one hand, they won\u2019t be able to luck themselves into another generational trade by dangling Reaves for <\/span>Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/span><\/a> or <\/span>Nikola Jokic<\/span><\/a>\u2014a pair of <\/span>superstars whose respective futures are under the microscope<\/span><\/a>. On the other hand, there\u2019s little to no chance they\u2019d move him for, say, <\/span>Andrew Wiggins<\/span><\/a> (making $28 million this season) or <\/span>Lauri Markkanen<\/span><\/a> ($46 million)\u2014two standouts they\u2019ve been <\/span>linked to this summer<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

If both sides find themselves in dire straits, then the Lakers would likely trade Reaves for an offer they simply can\u2019t refuse. However, for now, fans can rest comfortably knowing that \u201cHillbilly Kobe\u201d is here to stay.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The whispers around Austin Reaves\u2019 future have only grown with his decision to decline an extension and aim for a hefty payday next summer. While he and the Lakers remain open to continuing their partnership, one franchise legend believes it\u2019s time to move on from the undrafted gem. Lakers Hall of Famer Suggests Bold Backcourt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":159769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,3,4721],"tags":[212,4556,306,926,1133,72],"class_list":["post-159766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-andrew-wiggins","tag-austin-reaves","tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","tag-lauri-markkanen","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nikola-jokic"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159766","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159766"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159766\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":159773,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159766\/revisions\/159773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159766"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159766"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159766"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}