The Los Angeles Lakers’ 2025-26 campaign could very well conclude on Monday night.
The Lakers are in a 3-0 second-round playoff hole after an embarrassing 131-108 home loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night, and with star point guard Luka Doncic being inactive for Game 4, it’s reasonable to assume the Thunder will complete the sweep over the 17-time NBA champions.
Considering Los Angeles clearly needs to make adjustments to its roster to be taken seriously as a championship contender, what moves should the franchise mull over this upcoming offseason?
Lakers insider Jovan Buha is under the impression that swapping Austin Reaves for an established Cleveland Cavaliers seven-time All-Star guard would be a roster-elevating summer trade.
“I think it would be a big mistake to just move on from Austin and not replace the ball-handling void with a real, high-level handler,” Buha stated Sunday.
“If you do replace him, you need to be finding another high-level ball handler and playmaker because it cannot just be and a bunch of role players. I don’t think that is at a high enough level (for the Lakers to win).”
“I will say, with Donovan (Mitchell), I think you are going to get a certain level of — there’s gonna be some defensive concerns with that. … He’s at a much higher level offensively (than Reaves). He’s a better player; it offsets some of the defensive concerns as well.”
Mitchell has been electric for the Cavaliers in their second-round playoff series against the Detroit Pistons, consistently applying pressure on the Pistons’ second level of defense, using his patented in-between game to keep Detroit on its toes, and rebounding at a high level for a 6-foot-2 combo guard (6.7).
Granted, the Louisville product isn’t shooting the ball well from three (29.6%), but there’s no question that he’s among the primary reasons the Cavaliers are no longer in jeopardy of getting swept.
As Buha noted, Mitchell is a much cleaner ball-handler and more decisive decision maker than Reaves at this stage of his career, making him a clear upgrade over the 23.3 points per game star.
Additionally, while far from elite, Mitchell isn’t the cone Reaves is defensively, giving the Lakers a slightly higher ceiling on that end of the floor. Simply put, if a Reaves-Mitchell swap makes sense to the Lakers from a financial and on-court fit standpoint, they should be all over it this summer.
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