{"id":413640,"date":"2026-01-17T21:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/413640\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T21:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T21:00:09","slug":"fans-favor-austin-reaves-over-lebron-james-and-you-cant-blame-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/413640\/","title":{"rendered":"Fans favor Austin Reaves over LeBron James and you can\u2019t blame them"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a city where he has played for the longest stretch of his life, LeBron James<\/a> should be considered one of the greatest Lakers<\/a> ever.<\/p>\n

Yet, by most accounts, he\u2019s barely in the top 10.<\/p>\n

James set the career scoring record here, set the career longevity record here, and won a long-awaited NBA championship here.<\/p>\n

Yet he is generally ranked behind Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, James Worthy \u2026 and maybe even Pau Gasol?<\/p>\n

When he likely leaves the team after this season, James should get a statue. He won\u2019t. He should get a farewell game similar to Kobe Bryant\u2019s final good-bye. He won\u2019t.<\/p>\n

For eight breathtaking seasons, LeBron James has poured his soul into pleasing a passionate fan base such that he still fills Crypto.com<\/a> Arena with joy and light and tomahawk dunks at age 41.<\/p>\n

Yet most fans can\u2019t wait for him to leave.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re tired of his drama, unconvinced of his loyalty, dissatisfied with the results, and ready to embrace fresh new franchise faces. One of those belongs to Austin Reaves<\/a>, who was unwittingly pitted against James this week during unfortunate speculation<\/a> from James\u2019 agent and close friend Rich Paul<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bottom line? If forced to choose between James and Reaves, here\u2019s guessing the majority would choose Reaves. If forced to keep either James or Reaves, almost certainly the Lakers would keep Reaves.<\/p>\n

These sorts of questions will matter at the upcoming Feb. 5 trade deadline, when, with the team going nowhere, perhaps James should realize that his days here are numbered and consider lifting that no-trade clause.<\/p>\n

If unanswered, the questions will surface again this summer, when Reaves becomes a free agent and can command a maximum contract of $241 million over five years. The Lakers are going to pay him, which leaves James, who would also be a free agent, and his contract demands deep on the bench.<\/p>\n

If James leaves the Lakers for whatever reason \u2014 retirement, seeking a title elsewhere \u2014 the Lakers can sign Reaves and still have $50 million in cap space.<\/p>\n

Think about that.<\/p>\n

\"Lakers <\/p>\n

Lakers forward LeBron James hugs teammate Austin Reaves after he was fouled on a three-point shot during a game against Utah.<\/p>\n

(Gina Ferazzi \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

Fifty million in cap space on a team that\u2019s already locked up its two best scorers? Are you kidding me?<\/p>\n

If James gets out of the way, the Lakers can finally fully commit to a retooling around Luka Doncic and Reaves.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all pretty simple, isn\u2019t it? It only became complicated this week when the suddenly struggling Lakers were hit with the most damaging opinion during the most detrimental of times.<\/p>\n

Paul popped off on his podcast about trading, of all people, Reaves.<\/p>\n

In \u201cGame Over With Max Kellerman and Rich Paul,\u201d Paul cited the advantages of trading Reaves to Memphis for Jaren Jackson Jr.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis comes with a very unemotional attachment because Austin is beloved, which he should be, he\u2019s an underdog,\u201d Paul said on the podcast. \u201cThere\u2019s a world where you can do what\u2019s best for your team, and do what\u2019s best for Austin. Because Austin deserves to get paid. Now, I love him as a Laker, but if that was a situation where we\u2019re getting balance \u2014 because if you put all the money into just the backcourt and then your flexibility is restricted going forward to fill out the rest of the team\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul went so far as to say Memphis would be the perfect place for Reaves.<\/p>\n

\u201cMemphis would definitely pay Austin,\u201d Paul said. \u201cHe would become \u2026 probably their point guard and leading scorer, for sure. \u2026 But definitely their highest-paid player.\u201d<\/p>\n

A similar opinion urging the Lakers to trade Reaves appeared in this column last summer, but that was written before Reaves had a breakout start this season, averaging 27 points a game on 51% shooting before being sidelined with a calf injury.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s hot. He\u2019s arrived. He\u2019s him.<\/p>\n

The idea of trading Reaves now feels foolish. Even worse, it feels like an idea that was co-signed by James himself.<\/p>\n

Trading Reaves would give more touches to James. Acquiring Jackson would offer more room for James. The entire speculation could be summed up in one sentence that has nothing to do with Reaves or Jackson.<\/p>\n

The Lakers should do what\u2019s best for LeBron James.<\/p>\n

No, they shouldn\u2019t. No, they absolutely shouldn\u2019t. Yet that\u2019s what Paul was saying, and one would be naive to think that\u2019s not what James is thinking, even though he denied any association in an interview<\/a> with ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think you all know by now, Rich is his own man and what Rich says is not a direct reflection of me and how I feel,\u201d James told McMenamin. \u201cAnd I hope people know that. I hope people know that and if they\u2019re not sensible to know that, then I don\u2019t know what to tell them.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the same interview, James also expressed his love for Reaves. Smart man.<\/p>\n

\u201cAR knows how I feel about him,\u201d James told McMenamin. \u201cAll you got to do is look at us on the bench. Me and AR talk every single day. So, AR knows how I feel about him and I hope AR \u2014 or his camp \u2014 don\u2019t look at me and think this is words from me are coming through Rich.\u201d<\/p>\n

Turns out, Reaves\u2019 camp thought these words were exactly coming from James, witness the brief courtside meeting between Reggie Berry, one of Reaves\u2019 agents, and Paul during a Lakers game earlier this week. According to ESPN, Berry approached Paul in search of an explanation for his comments.<\/p>\n

Later on his podcast, Paul said he told Berry, \u201cI want Austin to know this is not about Austin Reaves because I love the player, love the person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everybody, it seems, loves Austin Reaves, and he\u2019s not going anywhere. Meanwhile, after another tumultuous week in the passive-aggressive life of a king, it feels like LeBron James is as good as gone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a city where he has played for the longest stretch of his life, LeBron James should be…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413641,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[7384,4770,11654,198332,8304,6306,3013,13840,355,4363,2190,66657,198331,5190,99,1599,1975],"class_list":["post-413640","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-agent","tag-ar","tag-austin-reaves","tag-close-friend-rich-paul","tag-james","tag-lakers","tag-lebron-james","tag-memphis","tag-nba","tag-paul","tag-podcast","tag-reaves","tag-reggie-berry","tag-season","tag-sports","tag-team","tag-week"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413640","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413640"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413640\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413641"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413640"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413640"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413640"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}