Lakers News: Austin Reaves Disinterested In LA-Friendly Free Agent Discount
Second-year Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Austin Reaves has been one of the fun stories of an injury-plagued 2022-23 NBA season for LA. But how long will he remain in the purple and gold?
Reaves, who signed with LA as an undrafted rookie free agent in 2021, will enter restricted free agency this summer. Due to some salary cap restrictions, LA can tender him an offer worth, at most, about $51 million. Rival clubs could offer more, and the Lakers would be able to match that offer, thanks to the Gilbert Arenas Rule. But just how high are the Lakers willing to go for a valuable two-way role player who will probably never be an All-Star?
During a conversation on Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner's The Point Forward podcast, Reaves spoke about his future:
“I would like to be here [with the Lakers],” Reaves told Turner, “but it’s the NBA, it’s a business at the end of the day. Unfortunately for me I wasn't [seen as] talented enough to come in the league at 18, 19 years old so [I'm] a couple contracts behind somebody who is a one-and-done, so anybody that says we don't play the game for money to me is lying 'cause I feel like, if you [weren't] getting paid I don't know if you'd be here doing it. Obviously everybody loves the game, but I want to make as much money as I can and be as successful as I can, no matter where it’s at.”
That sure doesn't sound like somebody who would want to take a team-friendly deal to linger with the Lakers this summer.
Nor should it, necessarily. Reaves is absolutely right, in that it's essential to secure the bag when you can, while you can. Due to the terrible recent injury history of 30+ year-old stars Anthony Davis and LeBron James, the Lakers are hardly looking like a juggernaut, either this season or in the future.
As the West's current ninth seed with a mediocre 37-38 record (albeit 12-7 since its trade deadline makeover), LA does seem like it could be a tough playoff out, capable of perhaps a second-round appearance, but it's hard to imagine the team can stay healthy long enough to win. So Reaves wouldn't exactly be taking a San Antonio Spurs-esque discount to remain with a winning program, he would be taking it to stay with a very solid club in the NBA's glamor market.
Reaves, 24, has enjoyed a breakout 2022-23 season with Los Angeles. He's averaging career highs of 12.4 points on .514/.378/.857 shooting splits (making him one of the five most efficient volume scorers in the league), 3.2 assists and 3.0 rebounds a night, and has fully entrenched himself as LA's permanent starting two-guard ahead of Malik Beasley.
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