Lakers News: Re-Signed LA Starter Reveals He Was Prioritizing A Free Agency Return
Your Los Angeles Lakers had a number of surprises in their 2022-2023 with some of them pleasant and others that we'll just say were necessary for growth. When you have LeBron James on your team, the window for improvement and patience is much smaller than other squads and everybody that gets playing time has to impact the game in a positive manner.
And one of the best surprises for the purple and gold was undoubtedly the improvement the improvement of Austin Reaves every single month. The 25-year-old guard went from a high-IQ shooter to a legit third option on offense once the postseason rolled around. With the shot clock winding down, LA's superstars got accustomed to deferring to Reaves and letting him cook for either open jumpers or moves that ultimately led to and-one's and free-throw attempts.
The better he got, the more the front office realized they were going to have to start preparing for his new contract and it was going to wind up being more than anybody expected. Once LA's season came to a close, reports began surfacing that they would matchup any contract offers up to $100 million and that pretty much shut down any team reaching out to the rising star with any deals.
Reaves ended up inking a four-year deal with the Lakeshow worth $54 million and is now preparing to compete in the 2023 FIBA World Cup with Team USA. The former Oklahoma guard touched on his 2023 free agency and revealed that his goal all along was to remain a Laker.
"The whole time it was, 'Get back to L.A.,'" said Reaves. "That's where I want to be. It feels like home to me. I've said that multiple times before the free agency stuff, but it was different. I had a stressful probably 10 hours, but after that, when it was done, couldn't be more excited with the situation, with the team that we got, going back to L.A."
(Via ESPN)
We are beyond happy to know that Reaves remained where he wants to be and cannot wait to see him take another leap this year!
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