Lakers' Austin Reaves' Thoughts on Rich Paul's Trade Comments Surface

Before suffering a calf strain that has kept him sidelined since Christmas Day, Los Angeles Lakers rising star Austin Reaves was having the best season of his NBA career while getting a lot of buzz as a potential candidate to be an All-Star for the first time.

Reaves has missed 10 games since going down on Dec. 25, with the Lakers struggling during that stretch. The storied franchise has gone 5-5 and is having issues on both ends of the floor, sparking trade rumors, as many expect general manager Rob Pelinka to make moves before the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 5.

Along with rumors swirling for the majority of the 2025-26 NBA season, Klutch Sports agent Rich Paul hasn't done the Lakers any favors, as he has proposed a trade idea involving Reaves on his new podcast Game Over with Max Kellerman.

Austin Reaves Unbothered by Rich Paul's Trade Scenario

Paul, arguably one of the most powerful agents in the NBA and all of professional sports in this country, represents Lakers superstar LeBron James and has been connected to the franchise since the four-time NBA champion joined the team in 2018.

That said, when Paul says something publicly, which is happening frequently now due to the podcast, it makes headlines, and that's precisely what happened when he proposed the Lakers should trade Reaves to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for one-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr.

According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, Reaves wasn't bothered by Paul's recent comments.

A Lakers source told The Athletic that Reaves didn’t pay much attention to Paul’s comments, but one of Reaves’ agents approached Paul at halftime of Tuesday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks to discuss.

This seems pretty on par with Reaves' personality, as he never seems to get rattled, which makes sense given the challenging path the undrafted guard took to become an NBA star while earning his role as a starter alongside James and Doncic on the Lakers.

Jaren Jackson Jr. Reacts to Rich Paul's Comments

Even Jackson reacted to the trade scenario Paul mapped out. The veteran big man didn't think it was real.

“There’s just a lot of podcasts,” Jackson said. “At first, I didn’t think it was real. You have to figure out if it’s real, usually now, and I’m not as versed technology-wise as these people younger than me. I was figuring out if it’s AI, deepfake, all that stuff. That’s all I had, I didn’t really have much of a reaction.”

Clearly, Reaves and Jackson didn't take Paul's comments about a trade involving the two stars seriously and simply moved on, which speaks volumes about the character of both men.

However, the fact remains that the Lakers need to shake things up, and the only way to do that at this point will be making a move or moves ahead of February's trade deadline.

It seems highly unlikely that one of those moves will involve Reaves, but stranger things have happened, which was never more evident than when the Lakers pulled off a blockbuster trade for the untouchable Doncic a year ago.