In the latter stages of the 2024-25 campaign, Austin Reaves played alongside Luka Doncic in the backcourt for the Los Angeles Lakers, and they proved to be a capable offensive duo. Both players averaged 20-plus points and five-plus assists per game with the storied franchise a season ago.
Reaves and Doncic were two of just 22 players across the NBA to post those scoring and playmaking numbers this past season while appearing in at least 50 games. Yet, there was some talk about the viability of their fit with one another, and recently, sports radio personality John Gambadoro claimed that Reaves does not enjoy sharing the court with the Slovenian.
Gambo on Luka and the Lakers:
“LeBron does not like playing with Luka. Reaves does not like playing with Luka… This is Luka’s team now.” 👀
h/t @ammmiiittt pic.twitter.com/SxwkfDTc9M
— NBA Retweet (@RTNBA) July 2, 2025
However, any worries of a rift between Doncic and Reaves were dashed with a statement that Reaves’ agent Aaron Reilly came out with. According to Reilly, his client “truly enjoys playing alongside” Doncic on one of the marquee franchises in all of professional sports.
“Austin has nothing but the utmost respect for Luka and truly enjoys playing alongside him,” Reilly said, according to a post on X from Trevor Lane. “Any suggestion to the contrary is completely false. He’s excited to be on the court with Luka—both now and in the future.”
Reaves and Doncic could potentially be the Lakers’ starting backcourt for the long haul, as both players are still far away from their 30th birthdays. Reaves just turned 27 back in May while Doncic turned 26 in February.
Their offensive production may end up being enough to alleviate any fit concerns on that side of the ball, but that won’t change the fact that they’re both subpar defensive players.
It’s difficult to imagine that the Lakers can be a truly great defensive team, at least at the point of attack, with Doncic and Reaves starting at the guard spots.
The Lakers will also eventually have to sign both Doncic and Reaves to new deals if they want the guard duo to stick around for the foreseeable future. Both players have player options attached to their contracts for the 2026-27 season. That means that as of now, the Lakers are only guaranteed to have each of them for the 2025-26 campaign.
But if they do stick around for a long time, the hope will be that they can help the Purple and Gold return to the mountaintop of the NBA.