How Austin Reaves For Jalen Suggs Trade Makes Lakers & Magic BetterHere's a trade where the Los Angeles Lakers make an offense for defense trade with the Orlando Magic.The Lakers send offense-first players Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and Dalton Knecht to the Magic for… pic.twitter.com/ptCab0ftVx— LakerTom (@LakerTom) June 7, 2025
I don’t think Suggs is a 35 mil player. By the way you have Kleber not Dalton in your trade proposal.
My bad. Lakers keep Knecht and first round pick. This is straight up trade that addresses both teams’ needs. Lakers have always coveted Suggs and have the offense for him to be a better fit than with offensively challenged Magic. Win-win Trade IMO.
I think you are about the only person left that views Rui as a one way player. He made tremendous strides as a defender this year. JJ said this
Redick was asked about several topics during his exit interview with reporters. One reporter asked the former NBA guard to speak about Rui Hachimura’s season and Redick didn’t hold back in his answer.
“I thought Rui had an outstanding season,” Redick said. “And he was incredibly important to what we were able to do this year. He was a vital cog on both sides of the ball. The games that he missed, it was apparent to the coaching staff how valuable he was. Particularly in the last two games, I thought he played extremely well in the playoffs.
“I’m excited to see his growth. I think some of that is paint decision making, some of that is working on his handles and his closeouts. But for a guy, of all the guys that we laid out what we expect from them, what we’re asking them to do and starring in their role, he’s up there at the top of the list. That’s embracing that and starring in that role all year.”
I don’t know if we should keep trading 2 starters and only getting 1 back in return.
We’re trading three one-way players for two two-way players.
We have three guys starting who should not be starters.
I think folks are selling Rui way too short. I agree that Luka & Reaves aren’t a great fit and AR needs to be replaced but I don’t like throwing Rui in the deal and creating another hole in the lineup. We threw Christie in that Luka deal and now realize he isn’t that easy to replace. We went into last summer with smaller needs…a backup center, a couple of wing defenders off the bench. Now after a blockbuster trade, we still need those same wings in addition to a starting center and a starting guard to pair with Luka. And with every new guy we bring in, we get further away from being a cohesive unit who can realistically contend next season. It’s extremely difficult to switch out 7 guys (including 3 starters) in a 10 man rotation and have it all fit together in a year. But…this is the situation we find ourselves in right now.
I really don’t consider Suggs a two way player 41% from the field, 32% from 3 and 3.3 assists to 2.2 turnovers does not scream two way. At 35 mil, he is overpaid. And of course if after this trade you not only still need a starting center but you also need to find a quality combo forward with no assets. Good luck with that.
Suggs would fare much better playing with Luka and LeBron. His shooting was much better last season when he shot 39.7% on 5 threes per game.
Suggs still averaged 16.2 points, 4.0 rebound, 3.7 assists, 0.9 blocks, and 1.5 steals in just 28.6 mpg. Very close to Reaves production.
Jalen is clearly a two-way player and a far better fit next to Luka Doncic than Austin Reaves. He is probably a top-10 point-of-attack defender.
The problem with Rui is he’s a power forward being asked to play small forward because LeBron James now needs to play power forward. While his defense is not terrible, he is an offense-first player who has to guard smaller quicker players and thus his disadvantage.
Lakers need exactly what the Pacers have in Nembhard and Nesmith to complement Haliburton, a legitimate 2-way starting 3&D shooting guard and small forward. Lakers need to get two players like that and Reaves and Hachimura are not Nembhard and Nesmith.
Those stats are from the year before. It’s the only time he’s done that. He got his big extension based on that one year and flopped and went back to his normal output. And yes it would be great to have what the Pacers have, we do not have the assets. Giving up two of our best players for an over priced guard and a back up center doesn’t do it. We just don’t have the assets to fix things in one off season. Alexander-Walker would be better than Suggs and at half the price.
Lakers are one of the few time in the league not to have a player named “Jalen, Jaylen, or Tyrese”…
I jut noticed Jalen Suggs is $35 million player…..I think his value is probably more like $14 million…..Give them Vanderbilt and a 2nd round pick…..