The Lakers‘ Austin Reaves is an impending restricted free agent, and the second-year guard is expected to receive “interest and potential offer sheets” from “several” cap space teams this offseason, multiple team and league sources tell Jovan Buha of The Athletic.
However, Buha is the latest reporter to say the Lakers plan to match possible offer sheets for both Reaves and fourth-year forward Rui Hachimura, another restricted free agent. Buha actually goes a step further, as his sources say the Lakers would match anything up to those players’ maximum salaries.
L.A. only has Reaves’ Early Bird rights, so his max from a rival team would be a back-loaded deal worth approximately $100MM+ over four years. Hachimura’s max over four seasons would be worth about $144MM. Those projections are based on a $134MM cap.
I wouldn’t be totally shocked if Reaves, who has said he wants to stay with the Lakers, got his full max offer sheet from a rival team that really likes him and wouldn’t mind putting the squeeze on the Lakers at the same time. The reason I say that is because, for the Lakers’ purposes, he would be making about $37.5MM annually over the final two seasons.
On the other hand, a potential offer sheet team with cap space would be paying Reaves about $25MM for each of the four years. While a rival can offer $100MM across four years, the Lakers can only directly offer about $52MM over four years, but they can match any offer sheet up to his max.
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For a point of reference, such a deal would be comparable to the contracts signed by Anfernee Simons (four years, $100MM) and Jalen Brunson (four years, $104MM) last summer. I’m not sure how likely it is Reaves actually gets an offer that high, but still.
Reaves, who turns 25 next week, averaged 13.0 PPG, 3.0 RPG and 3.4 APG on .529/.398/.864 shooting line in 64 regular season games in 2022/23 (22 starts, 28.8 MPG).
Interestingly, it turned out he was the perhaps the primary beneficiary of the Russell Westbrook trade, as his production and usage continued to rise after the move. Reaves averaged 16.5 PPG, 3.0 RPG and 5.0 APG on an elite .577/.456/.843 shooting line over the last 27 games (29.5 MPG) of the regular season, with the Lakers going 18-9 over that span despite LeBron James being sidelined for 13 contests (they went 8-5 without him).
Reaves was the team’s third-best player in the postseason as well, bolstering his averages with 16.9 PPG, 4.4 RPG and 4.6 APG. His efficiency dropped a bit, but he still shot an excellent .464/.443/.895 over the Lakers’ 16 playoff games (36.2 MPG).
Hachimura was acquired in January from the Wizards. He averaged 9.6 PPG and 4.7 RPG on .485/.296/.721 shooting in 33 regular season games with the Lakers (22.4 MPG), and followed that up with a scorching-hot postseason, averaging 12.2 PPG and 3.6 RPG on .557/.387/.882 shooting in 16 games (24.3 MPG). I’d be more surprised if Hachimura signs an offer sheet simply because the Lakers can offer more money and potentially more years than a rival team can, which isn’t the case with Reaves.
Reaves’ max from a rival team would be $100MM+ over four years.
Hachimura’s max is $144MM+.
If the Lakers match both, they have no money for DLo and others
so the Lakers are getting worse?
They can exceed the cap to sign their restricted FA and DeLo. Or sign the two and sign and trade DeLo
The Lakers aren’t paying DLo no matter what!
They can go over the cap to sign Dlo. Although, he might not be the best option.
$25 million a year is lot for Austin Reaves, no offense to Reaves as he has a great story but he’s a lot of reason why the Lakers got swept. He’s the third best player on the team when he’d a 7th or 8th man on a great team.
You were on a roll until your said 7th or 8th on a great team. That’s silly. He has potential to be more than an end of the bench player on a great team. Maybe not “2 or 3rd best on great team” potential, but more than what your suggesting.
End of the bench is a 11-15th. 7th or 8th man is a playoff rotation caliber player.
Definitely a starter. Which is obviously above 7th or 8th. He can play point a little too. You’d like him at around 18 to 20 a yr, but like the author said, someone will probably go higher just to screw the Lakers.
Fine, I say he has starter or 6th man potential. If you put him in the right situation, he can be the 4th or 5th best player on a winning team. I hate to admit it (being a Mavs fan), but Popovich would do wonders with this kid.
Playing off a nice little run doesn’t make this kid much more than he is. Nice bench piece at best definitely not worth 25 million.
He’s him.
I hate this saying, makes no sense and reeks of a sub 100 IQ level (for whoever made it and whoever uses it)
Yeah me too. Hence the post.
It’s slang term and not indicative of anyone’s IQ. Get over yourself.
He is next in the overpaid list. Some GM will regret it within 2 years
Sure, he might end up being overpaid in the purest sense but given his defense, versatility and complimentary nature he’s unlikely to be that negative of a contract. I’d be much more worried about overpaying guys who don’t play a lick of defense, need the ball in their hands, etc. Because those types of contracts can be problematic in terms of fit and culture in addition to dollars.
Of course, in a weak FA class, there’s always a chance some team is desperate enough to grossly overpay him. Personally, I don’t think he’ll get near 100mil. Maybe something like 4/86. Sounds high, but with the new TV on the horizon it’s not that bad.
He could be Duncan Robinson / Davis Bertans 2.0. Robinson finally playing up to his contract again tho.
He wont, he actually plays D, for a two way player 25 mil/yr witha rising cap sound ok.
Lazy comparisons. Dude’s a baller with an all-around game, not a stiff with a jumper. $25M/yr isn’t crazy.
Lakers have a two-year window which aligns with the cheap years on the new contract. When the poison pill kicks in, LBJ will be retired, AD’s body will have completely given out, and Austin can command the tank.
Why? Just sign and develop the next Austin Reaves, shouldn’t be difficult. It’s been done many times before.
Really? Who’s a comparable example?
I don’t know if his ceiling is much highet than he displayed in the postseason.
Tough call, 100 million/4 years is a Lot of money.
I guess if he continues to at least play this well, it might be worth it. But there is always a risk that his game might not hold up at this level.
I really don’t know what I’d do as the Front Office here. That’s Pelinka’s job. Kkk.
Yeah, that’d probably be too rich for me. But when you’re in win-now mode the calculation changes in terms of retaining your own free agents, and Reaves is critical to their success. Might have no choice.
I’d let ‘lo (he has no D) Russell walk… period.
Indeed. Unplayable in the postseason. He fit right in with KAT and Rudy.
LAL should get ahead of the market, and try to sign him for the 52 mm over 4 years before FA begins. His agents will have a sense whether there’s a potential backloaded offer sheet out there, and I’m guessing there won’t be, or at least they won’t be able to assure him it is.
BTW, I can’t think of one backloaded offer sheet that didn’t turn into a bad contract, whether for the team signing the player to it, or the team that matched it.