Austin Reaves is set for a big payday in 2026, but Robert Horry doesn’t believe the Los Angeles Lakers should be the ones giving him a massive deal. On the latest episode of the Big Shot Bob Podcast, Horry explained why the Lakers should sign-and-trade Reaves instead of locking him up long-term.
“If the Lakers were smart, they would do a sign-and-trade,” Horry said. “And the reason I say that is because when you have a team with two players who are pretty much the same, meaning Luka [Doncic] 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,” Horry stated. “… Don’t get me wrong, I love AR and I think he could play, but you don’t need two of the same players. The NBA is all about a fit. You look at all the great teams, they all have something different. There’s no two [Nikola Jokic’s]. There’s no two [Giannis Antetokounmpos], no two [Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s].
“Even you look at what Miami did, LeBron [James] and that big three, all three [were different],” Horry continued. “Look at what the Lakers did and what that team in green did, they’re all different.”
There have been concerns about whether Reaves and Luka Doncic can form a championship-winning backcourt. While they aren’t the exact same kind of players, they do share the same weakness, which is defense.
Reaves and Doncic didn’t cover themselves in glory on that end of the floor when the Lakers were surprisingly eliminated in just five games by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 2025 playoffs. The pairing worked in the regular season as the team went 50-32, but their defensive limitations were exposed in the postseason.
The Lakers have already locked up one half of this duo long-term, having signed Doncic to a three-year, $165 million extension this offseason. That was a no-brainer of a move as the five-time All-Star is the franchise cornerstone now.
Doncic averaged 28.2 points, 8.1 rebounds, 7.5 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game for the Lakers in 2024-25 after arriving via trade from the Dallas Mavericks. The 26-year-old is one of the very best players in the NBA, and you’d back him to lead the team to glory provided he has the right complementary pieces around him.
Horry, who three-peated with the Lakers from 2000 to 2002, doesn’t believe Reaves falls into that category. The 27-year-old averaged 20.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game for the Lakers in 2024-25.
It was an impressive campaign and has led to Reaves’ value soaring. He rejected a $90 million extension this offseason and is expected to opt out of his $14.9 million player option for 2026-27. It has been reported that Reaves will seek a deal worth over $30 million a year in 2026.
If the Lakers were to give Reaves a deal in that range, they’d be committing over $80 million a year combined to him and Doncic. While this duo will be incredible offensively moving forward, you do wonder if the team would be better off having a different pairing in their backcourt. Horry is certainly of that belief.
“You get rid of him,” Horry added. “You love him, but from a business standpoint and from a winning standpoint, and if you can get something great for him, you deal him.”
Now, the argument against moving Reaves would be that we saw Doncic take the Mavericks to the NBA Finals in 2024 with Kyrie Irving as his backcourt partner. Irving is a much better player than Reaves, but isn’t exactly a good defender himself. The Mavericks surrounded their star backcourt with terrific defensive players, and that would be the recipe for success here as well.
It will be interesting to see what route the Lakers end up taking with Reaves. It is generally believed they will look to keep him, but if that backcourt pairing isn’t working defensively, they might start considering their options.
