Minnesota dominated their way past Los Angeles in five games in the first round, pulling off a major upset.
Of course, the Lakers finished the regular season third in the Western Conference standings after pulling off the blockbuster trade with the Dallas Mavericks at the trade deadline that landed them Luka Doncic to pair alongside LeBron James. Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15), forward LeBron James (23) © Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Another key player for the Lakers this season was Austin Reaves, but with Los Angeles looking to add more talent to their roster this summer, Reaves could be on the move.
While there should be many teams interested in Reaves if the Lakers decide to move on from his this offseason, a surprise Western Conference team has emerged as one of the favorites.
According to Bovada, the Oklahoma City Thunder have the fourth-best odds (+1000) to land Reaves from the Lakers via trade.
The New York Knicks, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Clippers are the favorites (+400) to land him and they are followed by the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors (+500).
Oklahoma City had a dominant season that has propelled them into the Western Conference Finals but there is no doubt pairing Reaves next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the backcourt could work well for the Thunder.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Imagn
Despite this, there have been multiple reports that the Lakers will only trade Reaves for a star center in the offseason, so unless the Thunder are willing to move either Chet Holmgren or Isaiah Hartenstein, which are both unlikely, then they will likely not be able to land him.
While that may be the case, the Thunder do have a ton of young talent and draft capital that could entice the Lakers and trade them Reaves, especially with Los Angeles’ lack of tradeable assets they could use to add a star big man in the summer.
