The Los Angeles Lakers are officially in the 2026 offseason after their playoff sweep against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Lakers have some flexibility to work with this summer as they look to build a sensible roster around Luka Doncic, and some have suggested that the team throw their hat into the Giannis Antetokounmpo trade sweepstakes.
However, reports have emerged that Doncic wouldn't want the Lakers to give up teammate Austin Reaves in a potential deal, drawing criticism, but recently, former NBA guard Gilbert Arenas defended Doncic's stance.
“I’m going to say the same thing also in public. Is you dumb. Like what am I supposed to say, like who's going to say, ‘Nah, I want Giannis so we can win a championship.' No you’re going to always like say publicly in favor of your teammate that you went to battle with,” said Arenas, per NBA Courtside on X, formerly Twitter.
Indeed, Doncic saying he would be OK with Reaves being traded likely would have been met with a lot more backlash than his stance of wanting to keep Reaves around.
There have been immense concerns about the fit of Doncic and Reaves in Los Angeles, considering that both are defensive liabilities and are much better on offense with the ball in their hands. However, if Los Angeles could assemble a long and athletic roster around them, with a true rim-protecting big in the middle, it could help them offset some of those shortcomings while allowing Doncic and Reaves to be one of the most lethal offensive duos in the league.
In any case, Rob Pelinka and company will have some big questions to answer as the offseason continues.
