Will the Lakers Re-sign Austin Reaves? Brooklyn’s Interest Gives Him Real Leverage
The Los Angeles Lakers have one offseason task that matters more than any other. They have to keep Austin Reaves. The latest reporting suggests they are about to find out exactly how expensive that is going to be.
Sources around the league have confirmed that the Brooklyn Nets are aggressively positioning themselves to make a run at Reaves when free agency opens on June 30. The Nets have cap space. They have a clear need for a primary creator in the backcourt. They have a front office that has been telegraphing for months that they are going to be active on the offer sheet market. Reaves is one of the names at the top of their board.
This is the part that should make Lakers fans nervous. Reaves came up through Los Angeles on a minimum contract that became one of the league’s biggest bargains. He outperformed his salary by such a wide margin that the Lakers have been trying to figure out the right number to pay him going forward. The honest answer might be more than they want to hear.
The cap math gets ugly fast. LeBron James is finishing the last guaranteed year of his deal at 52 million dollars. Anthony Davis is at 47 million. Re-signing Reaves at his actual market value of around 30 million per year would put the Lakers deep into the second apron, which carries roster construction penalties that few teams have voluntarily accepted.
Brooklyn does not have those issues. The Nets cleared cap room in the Mikal Bridges trade. They have flexibility. They can offer Reaves the kind of long-term deal he might want with security he might value over the Lakers’ shorter, higher-pressure alternative. If Brooklyn comes in at four years and 140 million, that is a real number the Lakers may not match.
The Lakers’ counter is the same one every superstar’s team has. They have LeBron. They have the city. They have the appeal of staying with a franchise where Reaves has built his entire identity. He grew up a Lakers fan. He has been the heart-and-soul role player on a team that contended. That is worth something.
But it is not worth everything. Players in the modern NBA are increasingly willing to move for the right deal. Reaves is 27 years old. This is his last big contract while LeBron is still on the team. He has to make a decision that protects his career for the next decade, not just the next two seasons.
What the Lakers should do is offer the four-year deal at the maximum number they can stomach and tell Reaves he gets to be the guy they build around when LeBron walks away. That is a real pitch. It is also the kind of pitch that needs to be backed by a max contract number.
The Nets are not done. They want Reaves. They have the room to pay him. And they are perfectly willing to drive up the price even if they end up walking away from the eventual signing. The Lakers have an exclusive negotiating window until June 30. They should use it.
If they let this drift into free agency, Brooklyn will steal him. And the Lakers will be looking at a roster construction nightmare with no obvious path to compete.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
