When the Los Angeles Lakers acquired Luka Dončić in a 2025 trade with the Dallas Mavericks that shook the NBA world, the pairing of the six-time All-NBA first-team selection with NBA legend LeBron James seemed like it would be an unstoppable combination.
Now James is gone, signing as a free agent with the Philadelphia 76ers. But in a new trade pitch published Wednesday and aimed at the Lakers, Los Angeles would go back to the Mavericks for a blockbuster deal that would bring another superstar to join with Dončić, and this one has played with him before.
Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving and a 2029 first-round pick would go to the Los Angeles Lakers for Austin Reaves in the new trade proposal, published on the roster-construction site FanSpo.
The proposal swaps a 34-year-old coming off a torn ACL for a 28-year-old on a four-year maximum contract, according to FanSpo‘s trade ideas page.
Irving, born March 23, 1992, in Melbourne, Australia, attended St. Patrick High School in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and played at Duke before Cleveland drafted him No. 1 overall in 2011. The nine-time All-Star, 2011-12 Rookie of the Year and 2016 NBA champion has averaged 23.7 points and 5.6 assists in 779 games.
He tore his left ACL on March 3, 2025, missed all of last season and returned Sunday with 17 points in 22 minutes of a 132-115 preseason win over the Houston Rockets, according to The Associated Press.
“He looked back to his normal self,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said, according to ClutchPoints.
Reaves, born May 29, 1998, in Newark, Arkansas, played at Wichita State and Oklahoma before going undrafted and signing with the Lakers in 2021. He averaged career highs of 23.3 points and 5.5 assists last season.
Austin Reaves Contract Shapes Los Angeles Lakers Cap Picture
Reaves re-signed this summer on a four-year, $185 million maximum deal with a player option for 2029-30, according to ESPN‘s Shams Charania. He earns about $41.3 million this season, according to Dunkest‘s contract breakdown.
Irving’s three-year, $118.5 million contract averages about $39.5 million per season and includes a 2027-28 player option, according to Spotrac. The swap trims roughly $1.8 million from the Lakers’ payroll.
The trade would have to wait, probably until the deadline. Reaves cannot be traded until mid-December at the earliest, and re-signed players with raises of at least 20 percent have been barred until Jan. 15, as Reaves was in 2023, according to Silver Screen & Roll.
The draft pick sent to the Lakers comes with conditions. Houston holds rights to the two most favorable 2029 firsts among the Rockets, Mavericks and Phoenix Suns, and Brooklyn receives the least favorable, according to NBA.com.
Kyrie Irving Return Shapes Dallas Mavericks Competitive Outlook
Dallas finished 26-56 last season, its worst record in eight years, according to ESPN. Reaves is six years younger than Irving, and his contract runs through 2029-30.
Los Angeles would reunite Irving with Dončić, his running mate on the 2024 NBA Finals team in Dallas that lost in five games to the Boston Celtics. In April 2024, the pair averaged 59 points, 15 assists and 14 rebounds per game together and outscored opponents by more than nine points per 100 possessions, according to CBS Sports.
Dallas won 16 of its final 18 games that spring, according to Fox Sports.
General manager Rob Pelinka made clear after the Lakers’ second-round exit that Reaves likely was not going anywhere, according to The Associated Press.
Measured by age, contract length and the encumbered pick, the terms favor Dallas. The Lakers would gain a second shot creator beside Dončić and a shorter commitment, but they would take on a 34-year-old coming off a major knee injury. Reaves would not be trade-eligible until at least December, which leaves the idea only that, an idea, for now. But once the deal becomes possible — who says no?
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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