Austin Reaves Might Be the Key to the Lakers Landing a Franchise Big Man

The Los Angeles Lakers need a center to pair with Luka Doncic into the future.

The Detroit Pistons need a secondary scoring option who can handle the ball alongside Cade Cunningham into the future.

With both franchises knowing what they need to do this offseason to make themselves viable championship contenders, social media has already jumped on the obvious trade between the two teams that could, theoretically, make them better: the Lakers landing big man Jalen Duren from the Pistons, while the Pistons get Austin Reaves from Los Angeles.

It’s a trade where, if it worked out perfectly for both sides, it might mean they could face off in the NBA Finals down the line. But there’s also a gigantic risk that one side could fleece the other, leaving one franchise torpedoing their title window before it even opens.

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For the Lakers, Duren’s regular season would make you believe that the young All-Star is worth the sign-and-trade with Reaves, but then he completely fell apart in the playoffs and was benched in crunch time of the Eastern semifinals versus the Cleveland Cavaliers.

And for the Pistons, Reaves has been excellent when healthy, but in back-to-back postseasons, he’s been run down and hampered by the time the biggest games of the year roll around.

On top of it all, Luka Doncic doesn’t want Reaves to go anywhere. The two are close friends on and off the court, and with the new Lakers owner Mark Walter personally guaranteeing a roster built around the Slovenian superstar, it seems unlikely that L.A. would trade Reaves away for such a question mark in Duren.

But beyond friendship, the thing Doncic wants most is a championship trophy and a ring to go along with it. Unless the Lakers can somehow pry Walker Kessler out of the Utah Jazz’s grasp this offseason, Duren might be the only true young upgrade the Lakers could find without taking a gamble in the NBA Draft.

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This story was originally published May 19, 2026 at 3:32 PM.