The Lakers have held their own in recent days despite missing both LeBron James and Luka Doncic due to injuries. The play of guard Austin Reaves has been a major reason why Los Angeles has put up a 2-1 record without its two superstars — after scoring 51 points in Sacramento on Sunday and pouring in 41 more vs. Portland on Monday, Reaves hit the game-winning shot in Minnesota on Wednesday to cap a 28-point, 16-assist performance.
“That guy is going to show up in the big moments,” head coach JJ Redick said after Wednesday’s win over the Timberwolves, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN. “I’m not surprised. He’s done that many times in his career.”
Reaves, 27, is averaging an eye-popping 34.2 points, 10.0 assists, and 5.6 rebounds through his first five games this season, making 52.5% of his shots from the field, including 38.5% of his three-pointers. He also leads the NBA in free throws made per game (10.4).
While he’s very unlikely to continue producing at that rate, Reaves is off to a terrific start in what figures to be a contract year. He holds a $14.9MM player option for the 2026/27 season but is a virtual lock to decline that option in search of a more lucrative deal.
The fifth-year guard is technically extension-eligible now, but can’t sign for more than $87.4MM over four seasons, so he reportedly plans to wait until the 2026 offseason to get a new contract done. According to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps, the belief around the NBA is that he’ll be able to command at least $30MM per year, and potentially well above that number.
“He’s always been a very good player, but now he’s in a role where he can have the ball and generate a lot of offense,” a Western Conference executive told ESPN. “Someone is going to pay him a lot of money next summer.”
Another executive who spoke to Bontemps suggested that Reaves’ value on the open market could far exceed $30MM per year, speculating that a rival suitor might be willing to offer him $180MM for four seasons. While that may be more than the Lakers were prepared to pay for the former undrafted free agent, they have the cap flexibility to make a significant offer themselves and could give themselves a leg up by putting a five-year deal on the table — other teams wouldn’t be able to exceed four years.
“I don’t think he’s going to quite keep up this pace because LeBron will take away touches,” that second executive said to ESPN. “But he is good and the Lakers intend to keep him and he intends to stay, so my guess is it gets done.”
The famous career year right before contract negotiations
Ain’t that the truth ——-
Vucevic is balling right now. I give Reaves his props. He’s come a long way.
Who tf is going to pay Austin Reaves $45 million per season?? No way. The GM who even thinks about offering that should be fired.
He will end up getting it. look at how many over paid players in teh NBA.
Nobody is paying him that. Last yr was his first good yr. He can’t be a top player playing next to Luka. They both need the ball.
1) Reaves’ “breakout” isn’t all that surprising, considering he’s the last line of consistent offense, as well as for the fact he’s already proven his value/merit during all those games LBJ and AD were out over the last few years
2) Maybe aside from Lakers and casual fans, I doubt anyone’s getting too enamored with this run by Reaves – still early, and look at the competition over the last 3 games
3) I honestly believe the Lakers did Reaves a disservice when they attained Luka; Reaves’ game meshed so much better with AD’s; and as has been stated on this website, it’s unsightly overkill – in terms of players who often need the ball in their hands to have any effectiveness whatsoever in the game – when Luka and LBJ return.
“3) I honestly believe the Lakers did Reaves a disservice when they attained Luka;”
Cmon, be real. Who the f is Austin Reaves compared to Luka Doncic. When Nico called saying “We’ll give you Luka for AD and a pick” nobody at LAL in their right mind even thought about how it might affect Reaves.
I know people lose their mind over Luka. You know I am not a fan cause he doesn’t play D. Offensively Luka is one of best around. Imo Austin can be all star level starting at PG on another team. With Bron leaving you have to build it right around Luka. Austin is a not a good fit with him.
Luka has always played good D against forwards, his natural fit. He cannot play print of attack quick point guards, just like 95% of NBA players.
This year, and in the euro league Luka played great defense with his new body. He is a very smart player and that translates to his defense.
Just like Jaylen Brown and several players have said, they don’t switch on Luka cause he is a bad defender. They do to try to tire him out on offense (cause he is the best offensive player in the NBA and/or to get him into foul trouble.
Luka has never played good D. On anybody. The guy just lost 30 lbs for first time in NBA. What does that tell you. He spends more time arguing calls than playing his man. He more than any player in NBA doesn’t even run back on defense. He plays hero ball. And all players in NBA know who he is. Luka will never be a top or good defender. But he can be a solid team defender with effort. Hasn’t happened yet. Defense is all about effort and IQ. Knowing your teammates and knowing who you are playing against. You see all the effort he uses on offense ……. Right.
When have you EVER seen him use that same effort on defense. He is not there yet.
I’ve understood that many people in America have a skewed view of basketball because you think of team sports as if they were American football.
Basketball is a fundamentally different game. The play is continuous, the possession changes in open play, and the same 5 players are on the court when both teams have the ball. Every player is a “two-way player” by default in basketball.
Players like Luka and Jokic are special, even though they don’t block jumpers or whatever. You look at Giddey and call him “a bad defender” even though he’s actually a positive when the opposition has the ball.
You invented this beautiful game, and yet you try to make sense of it through the lens of a different sport.
Not true …. that’s the casual fan. Real fans know their sport lol. Especially in the north East. Basketball fans and Hockey fans know their sport.
Basketball grew out of northern cities from Chicago to NYC. The South Southwest is all football.
Basketball is a 2way sport. And if you don’t see that, then you are not a basketball fan. I started writing 2Way sport on HR. Cause no one ever payed attention to defense. NBA has changed over the yrs. There is less emphasis on D. Cause of injuries. And to open the game up to the athletes. Make the game more exciting. Yet any tough game comes down to making stops. All playoff games are about making stops. You don’t win chips if you don’t make stops.
The game is a 2way sport still.
Offense is what sells in any sport. But only football has the respect of winning with your defense. As does Hockey cause of the goalie. Yet look how Thunder won …..
Luka is not like Jokic. Luka is about hero ball. He hasn’t learned to win yet. He comes from a system where he has to do it all to win. That doesn’t work in NBA. Only teams win chips in NBA. Nobody is bigger than the game. Jokic understands that. Jokic plays D with his size and rebounds. He is not Embiid on D. But he is good enough to beat teams and make stops. Thats IQ of the game. He shows effort and knows when to turn it up on D.
Luka is now just getting in top shape. Now in LA they will trash him if he doesn’t show effort. You don’t argue with refs when your team runs back to play D. Thats 12 yr old stuff. Luka has never been held accountable to play D. Jokic has won and understands you win by making stops as a TEAM. Luka thinks you do it by scoring 40 and making last shot. Luka has learned to play D lol. And at his age it means he doesn’t care about D.
Agreed – for whatever flaws in his game, Luka is a top 10 talent in the NBA, and Reaves will have to figure out how to coexist with him.
The 3 guys play together a maximum of 20 minutes. The other 28 minutes it is either 2 of them or just one at times (Luka by himself with James and Reaves out).
Those 3 guys playing together last year were plus 26 points. They definitely can play together and thrive.!
Bron is leaving lol. This is Lukas team now.
Only the fact that the LAL will have cap space (meaning at least some alternatives) grants them any leverage in negotiating with Reaves.
Whether he’s a true star or not doesn’t matter, because there aren’t close to enough true stars in the league to fill out the max or other big money slots, thus no true stars get close to real free agency until they’re fossils. At least the LAL, unlike most teams trying to win, will have cap space (or S&T ability), so they can get the level of players that do become free agents in lieu of Reaves. It will still be a downgrade, via overpayments, but some leverage is better than none. Without cap space, they would need to replace Reaves with minimum wage players or Txp-MLE players. The effect of that level of downgrade is far worse than overpaying Reaves.
Austin is worth more than the 87.4 mill extension he is due now. Imo he is not a good fit with Luka. They are the same players. Not your classic PGs. Both play the point where they are most effective. Plus defensively they are a bad match. Lakers would be fools to keep him. This is Lukas team now. So you have to trade him to build around Luka. That simple …….
Reaves is putting up some nice stats. So that means its now a 4 gm SEASON. His career stats are solid. Not max player worthy. He has one solid year thats last yr. You want to see the best of Austin. Then he has to be the lead guard on a team. Ain’t happening on the Lakers. He’s worth over 30 mill. Certainly better than Suggs and Quickley right now. And is in his peaking yrs at 27. Best for nothing team and player to move on. Lakers can get good value for him. If not this yr then on a sign-n-trade next yr.
Reaves plays shooting guard, and he did that even before Luka came. Can he play PG on another team? Yes! But his natural fit is SG who also averages assists.
Reaves is more a combo guard. A d he has played point in LA. Until Luka got here. They are similar players. In that they are best with the ball in their hands. Clearly Austin is showing that now 10 ast gm so far. They are not a good match. Dyson is the kind of player Luka needs next to him. Someone like him. And Reaves needs to run point somewhere else.
There is no one on the court taking shots away from him. Even a blind squirrel will find a nut.
He’s a ‘good’ player, but not $30M+ good. So there’s a league exec who believes he can far exceed the $30M per – most likely an exec who also chases other players with an over evaluated opinion. I view AR as a solid 6th man worth 20-25M per while filling in for a star to keep the offense going while off the court or injured. He’s certainly not a number one or even two weapon offensively in my opinion.
Again, good but not that good. This is why exec’s get fired while they try to dump the horrible contracts they dished out while tripping on acid.
Bro Suggs got 30 mill and Quickley got 35 mill. Austin is getting 30 + easy. Just don’t see a good fit with Luka.
Even before this run, the talk by LA pundits was that Reaves Value was $35M first year. Now it very likely will be the max start for a 4 year player of $41.5M first year, with the Lakers paying him $240M over 5 M.
Lakers fans watching this know that this isn’t a fluke. He is that guy, and in many other teams he would be the first option and running the team. Lakers have to pay him or will lose him to one of those teams. The good thing is that Reaves loves the Lakers, and loves living in SoCal.
The season just started and Luka n LeBron are skipping games again ughhh. Get out there and play 82 games
I predict that the Lakers will offer him $35M per for 5 years. With LBJ gone that is plenty of cap space to fill out the roster competitively and make Reaves happy.
No’mas llega Luca y se calman, les quita el balon.