Austin Reaves is about to test the open market, and the Los Angeles Lakers are about to find out how much it costs to keep him.
Reaves is expected to decline his $14.9 million player option for next season and pursue a maximum contract in free agency, according to multiple league sources. He is reportedly looking for the max from either the Lakers or another team willing to pay it. That is a major leap from where his career was three years ago.
Reaves went undrafted in 2021. He earned a two-way contract from the Lakers, fought his way into the rotation, and turned himself into one of the better complementary scorers in the league. The four-year, $54 million deal he signed in 2023 looked team-friendly almost immediately. Now he wants to cash in on the production.
The case for paying him is straightforward. Reaves averaged 18.4 points, 5.1 assists, and 4.0 rebounds last season while shooting 38 percent from three. He plays in the LeBron James and Luka Doncic spacing system without disappearing, and he has shown he can run the offense for stretches when LeBron sits.
The case against is also straightforward. Reaves is not a max-level defender. He is undersized for his position. His ceiling as a primary creator is limited. Paying him max money assumes he keeps producing at a high level while the Lakers also try to retool the roster around aging stars.
The market is going to be the deciding factor. Several teams have cap space and a need for a quality guard who can shoot. The Brooklyn Nets, the Detroit Pistons, the San Antonio Spurs all have flexibility. If any of them offers Reaves a max-level deal, the Lakers will have to match or lose him.
Rob Pelinka has not put out signals about how aggressively the Lakers plan to fight for Reaves. The team has bigger picture decisions to make, including how to handle LeBron’s contract situation and what to do with the rest of the supporting cast. Spending big on Reaves limits flexibility elsewhere.
The Luka Doncic factor is the real wildcard. Doncic has made it clear that he loves playing with Reaves and considers him a key piece of the team’s offensive structure. Stars usually get their way in these negotiations, and if Doncic pushes the front office, Pelinka is going to find the money.
The LeBron piece is more complicated. James is in the final year of his deal and has not committed to playing beyond 2026-27. If LeBron walks, the Lakers’ Reaves calculus changes. He becomes a player to build around rather than a complementary star, and that is a different contract conversation.
The team is also navigating its first season fully built around Doncic. The Lakers traded for him in February 2025, and the chemistry with the rest of the roster is still developing. Reaves has been one of the few players who has clicked with both Doncic and LeBron, which makes him uniquely valuable to this exact roster.
The number to watch is whether anyone is willing to offer Reaves the actual max. His max under the new CBA rules would be in the range of $35 million per year. That is the price of being a top-15 guard, which Reaves is not quite. He is more likely a top-25 player at his position, which puts the realistic deal closer to $30 million per year.
The Lakers can match anything thrown at Reaves, and they probably will. He is the kind of player you do not let walk for free, especially when LeBron and Doncic both want him back. Pelinka will get this done, but he is going to have to swallow hard before signing the paperwork.
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.
