5 inches? That’s like way above average. 

Just put him on Ayton’s shoulders and give them an XXXXXL jersey to make it seem like they’re one person, Ayton’s legs might give it away though

Agreed. And also Luka specifically said he wants AR back and likes how they play together. If the lakers are trying to keep Luka this was the right move

Man, I know Reaves is good but what Kyrie did in the playoffs was just incredible. I think I just remember his good games more than his bad games but 2016 and 2024 were too memorable. And Nets win if he didn’t get injured 2021.

AR has already been a super-efficient 3-level scorer his entire career, so not just “can be.”

Beautiful

Man I really thought the dolphins had a moment where they were going to pop off. Shame.

was this before the concussions?

Different situation altogether too

I mean, shit, the Bulls did the same thing with LaVine.

losing a very good player for nothing is worst case scenario

Letting an asset walk for nothing is like never the right move

Letting a player walk for nothing is disastrous in this CBA because you can’t really replace them.

The NBA needs a true hard cap, and the sooner it happens the better.

I mean even more than that, if you don’t pay him, what are the chances you’ll be able to replace him with someone better? Usually not great.

I think it’s totally a rational decision and arguably the best decision. Even if, yeah, you could always take the super high risk high reward chance of letting him walk.

Also, the fact that he had multiple max offers on the table means he’ll be perfectly tradeable unless he regresses significantly.

You could very well be right. It would be nice to judge a healthy Reaves come playoff time though. 

He was injured this year in the post season. He played like 3 games lol

He was injured the last two playoffs, you should probably mention that.

He was hurt this playoff so this is a bullshit comment lmao

Does he, though?

His efficiency falls off a bit, but so does everybody’s in the playoffs but there is nothing crazy happening here. His worst drops were 2024-25, which was only 5 games, and that’s because he only got 1 FTA/game. His 3P shooting was down in 2025-26, but again, it’s the playoffs and going 2-12 in a series is not that crazy. It happens

And I am not even an AR fan

oh how you forget game 6 against GSW.

Should’ve let them trade him then. To us. For cheap.

How do they know it was for Reaves? Or are they just inferring?

The punishment for tampering is also completely inconsequential.

Lost a second round pick for tampering with Brunson, not a deterrent in the slightest.

Also if pistons was. interested in AR they kinda have to tamper to get him to agree to a contract beforehand otherwise there’s no point of them exploring moves to clear cap space.

And duren could have been great for the lakers.

Big 3 of Luka/Reaves/duren on maxes…idk about that one

I mean the pistons already reported how Luka was tampering for Duren. What was first the chicken or the egg? 

Agreed, but the new CBA was built in a way to protect owners from over spending yet they still find themselves giving out huge contracts they ultimately have to dump anyways

Yea the simple reality is - if they didn’t sign Reaves, who would they fill his spot with this season? He has been both inconsistent and hurt in playoffs, but that doesn’t mean you just reject him. At least if you sign him and he plays well still, you can trade him.

Same with LeBron - easiest thing in the world is to scream “he is too old just don’t take him back”. In his spot there needs to be a valuable alternative then, if not this year then maybe a player that should peak in the next 3 years or something.

I think people got used to insane depth vs value some teams got lately by having a lot of good players outperforming their cheap contracts, including rookies. The GSW Dynasty was able to accelerate and peak like that because Curry was still on his cheap deals, already leading a team to some of best season in history of the league, and they could still fit in prime Durant. OKC and Spurs at least temporarily succeeded in that as well with their rookies - and when time comes for real contracts it will hit like a prime Mike Tyson to the ballsack. But these are outliers and lucky streaks empowered by scouting and development and having a shit ton of draft picks.

Lakers don’t have that, so they have to go the old way and just see whats out there, which might not always work out, at least for next year. Reading these comments would make you think that if you just don’t resign any player with a total contract payout above 50mil, there will be a line of underpaid but talented role players just sweeping into Lakers office.

Yep and in this era of FA you could argue there are so few guys that actually make it to FA, the few that do might be overpaid just because there aren’t many ways to improve your team other than the draft currently, or if you can pull off a trade heist…which teams seem more and more cautious of.

It’s really tough to lose a guy for nothing these days because you can’t fill that gap with equal talent. Even if you can pull off a trade, without large contracts it’s tough to match as well.

uh teams do give overpaid contracts that they later regret

The “professionals” fuck up and get it wrong all the time.

In almost all cases good but not great players get more than they are worth because there is always another team out there willing to pay

How does giving out those contracts prove they know what they’re doing? 

The Fox contract was obviously a huge mistake. 

uh teams do give overpaid contracts that they later regret?

Professionals in the sense they get payed for it

Yeah, with their defense and lack of offensive complement to Cade… AR is a great fit there

Duren and reaves both bouta get a max contract that are going to cripple their teams 

Reaves fits so well with the pistons though and duren would fit way more with Luka, this is gonna be rough to watch for both of our fanbases

Bro tbh and I dont mean this disrespectfully but he has an issue against big stretch forwards. Like Jaden McDaniels has the same effect on Reaves as he does Jamal.

I wont sit here and bullshit you, Austin did have a great run against the Nuggets in I think 2024 but the last two years he’s shown his glaring weaknesses when defended.

The trade isn’t finalized yet, so they could have maxed reaves then finalized the trade if they wanted him.