Lakers' Best Option Is to Keep Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell amid Latest FA Rumors

It's looking like the Los Angeles Lakers' surprising postseason run won't reach the NBA Finals. Los Angeles finds itself down 0-2 to the Denver Nuggets, and LeBron James is dealing with an ankle injury he suffered in Thursday night's game.

Of course, that won't keep James from suiting up for Game 3.

While there's still a chance that the Lakers—who have lost the first two games by a combined 11 points—can still salvage their foray into the Western Conference Finals, things appear bleak.

Regardless of how the rest of the series unfolds, it's been a remarkable run by a team that began the season 2-10. To put it bluntly, the Lakers weren't supposed to be here. James and Anthony Davis are still elite, and Austin Reaves has evolved into a legitimate playmaker during the season, but the supporting cast just wasn't good enough.

That is, until the front office pulled off a midseason makeover that jettisoned Russell Westbrook and brought in D'Angelo Russell, Rui Hachimura, Malik Beasley and Jarred Vanderbilt.

With the new-look roster, Los Angeles got into the play-in tournament, ousted the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors in the playoffs proper and is giving the conference's No. 1 seed just about all it can handle.

The Lakers should, and reportedly are looking to, bring back the new core of its roster for the 2023-24 season.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Thursday's edition of NBA Countdown, L.A. wants to bring back Hachimura, Russell and Reaves in the offseason. Russell will be an unrestricted free agent, while Hachimura and Reaves will both be restricted free agents.

All three have been instrumental to Los Angeles' playoff run. Reaves is a legitimate third or fourth option offensively, and Russell, while inconsistent, can get hot and score in spurts. Hachimura has given L.A. a different look against Denver defensively and is coming off a 21-point performance.

There will be no shame if L.A. bows out to a championship-caliber team with the best player in the conference, Nikola Jokić, at the helm. The Lakers have proved, to this point, that the current group works.

Presumably, James and Davis will be back for another run. Reaves, Hachimura and Russell should be, too, though Los Angeles might want to search for another big man to help battle Denver should the two teams meet again in the postseason.

Attacking Jokić with size and power was the key to outlasting the Nuggets in the 2020 postseason.

"I thought the Lakers had a luxury with the depth of their bigs," as one anonymous coach told Sam Amick, Darnell Mayberry and Josh Robbins of The Athletic regarding that 2020 matchup. "... They beat him up every single time. The Lakers don't have that physicality anymore."

Players such as Brook Lopez and Jakob Poeltl should probably be on L.A.'s radar, though fitting one of them in with an already expensive roster would be extremely difficult. Los Angeles is projected to be $88.5 million over the cap, per Spotrac.

That's the caveat with retaining Reaves, Hachimura and Russell, too, though L.A. will have an easier time retaining players than adding new ones. This is a point general manager Rob Pelinka made in February.

"I think a deep dive into this, you can almost look at it as 'pre-agency,'" Pelinka said, per ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "We very intentionally planned these moves to provide optionality in July."

Easier doesn't mean easy, though, and the Lakers could have a particularly difficult time retaining Reaves. As Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium recently noted, other clubs are likely to offer Reaves more than the four-year, $50 million that Los Angeles can:

Perhaps the Lakers can convince Reaves that playing for the franchise with which he's become a star is more valuable than extra contract dollars, and maybe Reaves will be open to that idea.

"I would love to be here my whole career," Reaves said in April, per McMenamin. "Just the way that the fans treat me, the love they have for me, as an undrafted player, it's kind of like they raised me type of vibe."

However the Lakers can do it, bringing back Reaves, Hachimura and Russell is a near-must. Their options with external free agents will be limited, and Los Angeles is extremely unlikely to land an instant-impact player with the 17th pick in the draft.

Los Angeles' best option for chasing a title in 2024 is to keep the critical role players it has, perhaps add a piece or two, and hope that a full year together can make this group even better.