Four years after he went undrafted and signed with the Los Angeles Lakers, Austin Reaves is set to again wait \u2014 this time on a significant raise.<\/p>\n
League sources told The Athletic that Reaves formally declined a max extension with the Lakers this week that would\u2019ve paid him $89.2 million over the next four seasons. He\u2019s about to start the third year of a four-year, $54 million contract he signed as a restricted free agent in 2023 \u2014 also the max number he could receive from the Lakers at the time.<\/p>\n
He can opt out of that deal and become an unrestricted free agent next summer, when he\u2019s expected to command significantly more than the most lucrative extension the Lakers were allowed to offer this summer.<\/p>\n
The decision, league sources said, wasn\u2019t a reflection of Reaves and the Lakers\u2019 relationship. Instead, it\u2019s almost a foregone conclusion considering the limitations placed on the amount the Lakers were allowed to offer this week.<\/p>\n
Reaves\u2019 upcoming potential free agency meant his name was floating in and out of rumors on the first day of the NBA Draft. The Lakers have never shown interest in trading Reaves and continue to hold him in high value.<\/p>\n
Still, there are skeptics around the NBA, mainly because there\u2019s pressure for the Lakers to aggressively upgrade their roster alongside Luka Don\u010di\u0107, LeBron James and, presumably, Reaves \u2014 three players Lakers vice president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka singled out in his end-of-season news conference on May 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when your foundation for those three players is that they\u2019re players of high-character and a highly competitive nature, that\u2019s the perfect starting point to have three players like that,\u201d Pelinka said. \u201cLeBron\u2019s a selfless player, high character. All he cares about is winning. Luka Don\u010di\u0107, the same. Austin Reaves, the same.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think when you get those three pillars in a training camp environment and you\u2019re starting to build an ethos around them, that\u2019s a great starting point. And we didn\u2019t have that opportunity this year, but we will next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Reaves averaged 20.2 points per game this past season, a career high. His pending free agency makes him a bit of a tricky player to trade for. Teams that value him can offer him twice as much as the Lakers\u2019 extension offer in 2026. And if you\u2019re a team that thinks the Lakers are willing to move Reaves instead of paying him, are you pushing your best assets into talks to get a deal done for someone you might just be able to sign 12 months from now?<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re the Lakers, are you looking at a five-game series with Minnesota, where Reaves had the least productive postseason of his career, as an indictment, or are you factoring in the painful toe injury that limited him in the final two games of the series?<\/p>\n
Promises of internal improvement and continuity aren\u2019t nearly as exciting as \u201cBreaking News\u201d alerts signaling trades. As the Lakers prepare for their lone scheduled decision of the NBA Draft \u2014 the No. 55 pick \u2014 fans should have realistic expectations for the kind of impact a player taken in the final gasps of the second round can have on a roster.<\/p>\n
None of the guesses around the NBA for what the Lakers might do in the second round \u2014 from targeting a center to looking for defensive toughness and\/or shooting, to spending cash to move up in a trade if necessary \u2014 are all that surprising.<\/p>\n
During the draft\u2019s first day, scouts and executives around the NBA gossiped plenty about the Lakers and their need to add a starting center and their desire to get more versatile on the wing. And because there are limited pathways for the Lakers to address those needs now, rival league personnel wondered if Reaves was potentially more available via trade than he\u2019d ever been before.<\/p>\n
The Lakers and Reaves, however, seem committed to maintaining their partnership.<\/p>\n
At his youth basketball camp in Arkansas earlier this month, Reaves told a local television station he hoped to remain with the team throughout his career.<\/p>\n