Luka Dealt to Lakers: Nico Harrison is a Basketball Terrorist

[omahen]

On a serious take, I agree that the Lakers should trade Reaves. It will take a haul to get an all star caliber point guard though. The minimum acceptable offer from the Mavs would be Naji and DLive.  I’d probably do it if I were both teams. DLive is sort of a luxury if you have AD, and between Gaff and Kai, the Mavs have serviceable traditional bigs to complement AD.  The Mavs could use pick 12-14 for a stretch big (either a 4 or 5) who could truly compliment AD.  That’s probably about the best the Mavs can do. It won’t work but would be a solid team.

I don't agree, that they should trade Reaves (no matter what) for two reasons:
- LeBron-Luka-Reaves Lakers actually did play very good defense before LeBron injury, even with Luka not at 100 %. Lakers after LeBron injury are not the same team. Playoffs will give a definite answer to this question
- LeBron will not be around forever or will start to seriously decline at some point. Luka will need another co-star and Reaves has been really good when LeBron was out and he was acting in a second star role. Lakers should not build for Luka-LeBron, they should build for after LeBron. No matter how this season plays out, I can see Reaves in that picture.  Reaves is a very similar player than Tyler Herro. If he would take a similar deal than Herro did for his next contract (30 mil per), it would be likely better to keep him long-term. 

But I do agree, that trading Reaves might be the only chance to improve in the short term. Naji and DLive is an interesting idea. Still, based on how Reaves is playing and that DLive has plenty of injury concerns, it feels a bit light.