Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Austin Reaves must have heard his name in trade rumor discussions countless times, especially since LA got eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs. While playing golf on Wednesday, Reaves was told by a Detroit Pistons fan that he should go to Motor City, an idea that the former Oklahoma Sooners star immediately shut down.
“We need you on the Pistons, Austin,” the fan said.
“Nah, I'm not going to Detroit,” responded while the people in the background laughed.
Lakers' Austin Reaves has no interest in Detroit
© Isaiah J. Downing-USA TODAY Sports
The idea of Reaves wanting to go to the Pistons is, well, laughable. And it's also not entirely in his hands. He still has a live contract with the Lakers, as he signed a four-year deal worth $53.83 million with Los Angeles back in 2023. That contract will not expire until the end of the 2026-27 season or in 2026 when he has a player option to decide on. If Reaves wants out of Los Angeles to play for the Pistons, he will have to force the Lakers to do it. Practically speaking, though, why would Reaves desire such a destination at this moment? The Lakers had a disappointing end to their 2023-24 campaign, but compared to what the Pistons went through in the same season, Los Angeles' situation would look like basketball nirvana.
Last season, the Pistons were a horror show, as they finished with just 14 wins. Somehow, Detroit ended up having a worse record than they had a season before when they went 17-65 in the 2022-23 campaign. The Pistons had the fourth-worst adjusted offensive rating and sixth-worst adjusted defensive rating. And despite the atrocious brand of basketball they showed everyone, the Pistons still failed to win the top pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.
That being said, the Pistons have plenty of promising young players and could be headed in a better direction after hiring Trajan Langdon as the new president of basketball operations and firing head coach Monty Williams. Cade Cunningham, Ausar Thompson, and Jaden Ivey are all great youngsters, who could get it together one day and lead the Pistons out of a rut the franchise has been in for several years now. Detroit has not won more than 23 games in any of the last five seasons. The last time Detroit made it to the NBA Playoffs was in 2019 and that was when they posted a mediocre 41-41 record and got swept in the first round by Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Lakers have items to sort out themselves in the offseason, but they can be glad that at least they don't have the unstable landscape that Detroit is in. Los Angeles doesn't have a head coach as Darvin Ham's successor. The Lakers also need to shore up their roster to provide the aging LeBron James and Anthony Davis enough support (assuming James stays in La La Land, of course). But those are items they can address in a single offseason unlike the Pistons, who could be years away from becoming a legitimate playoff contender.
In his third season with the Lakers, Reaves averaged a career-high 15.9 points per game while shooting 48.6 percent from the field and 36.7 percent from behind the arc across 82 games. He also grabbed 4.3 rebounds and dished out 5.5 assists. He can continue his improvement as a player with the Lakers, who put together a 47-35 record in the 2023-24 NBA regular season.
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