Robert Horry urges LA Lakers to trade player who does ‘the same thing’ as Luka Doncic, ‘It’s a wash…’

Robert Horry says LA Lakers should sign-and-trade Austin Reaves next year

Robert Horry spoke on his podcast about Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers. Looking ahead to the future of the team, Horry believes they need to make a big move.

He advocated for the Lakers trading Austin Reaves, mostly because his skillset is too similar to Doncic’s. Having two players of the same profile, no matter how talented, never works well.

“If the Lakers were smart, they would do a sign-and-trade. And the reason I say that is because when you have a team with two players who are pretty much the same.

“Meaning Luka [Doncic] and AR, and I’m not saying they have the same skill set. They play the same position; they pretty much do the same thing.

“It’s a wash… Don’t get me wrong, I love AR, and I think he could play, but you don’t need two of the same players. The NBA is all about a fit.

“You look at all the great teams, they all have something different. There’s no two [Nikola Jokics]. There’s no two [Giannis Antetokounmpos], no two [Shai Gilgeous-Alexanders].

“Even you look at what Miami did, LeBron [James] and that big three, all three [were different]. Look at what the Lakers did and what that team in green did, they’re all different.”

Austin Reaves would bring in solid assets in a sign-and-trade deal

As things stand, Austin Reaves is set to be an unrestricted free agent next season. So the sign-and-trade option is possible.

For now, the Lakers will only trade Reaves for a star, feeling that they need to be in a better position after the trade if they’re giving up their third option.

However, Reaves wants to be a Lakers star for life, so getting him to agree to a trade will be very difficult in the offseason.

Rob Pelinka must evaluate how Reaves and Doncic play alongside each other next season before making any decision on this matter.