Austin Reaves will be a free agent next season. He has been one of the best stories in the NBA since joining the Los Angeles Lakers for the 2021-22 season. Early in his career, he looked like an exciting role player. Now he has proven himself to be a secondary star commanding a large contract. Especially since the last Reaves’ contract was a steal for the Lakers, this time around, he wants to get paid.
Reaves' stats last season were those of a huge impact player. He averaged over 20 points per game with 5.8 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.1 steals per game. He also shot nearly 38% from three. While his defense certainly doesn’t shine like his offense, he is still a highly valuable NBA player.
That’s why Reaves' next contract is going to be a big one. A new report regarding Reaves’ future contract negotiations just surfaced, and the Lakers star is going to demand a real payday.
“Reaves will be a free agent. There is zero chance he is picking up his $14.9 million player option, even if he plans to stay with the Lakers. Reaves reportedly wants to be paid in the Tyler Herro range of $30 million a year (and Herro is a good comp in a lot of ways).”
A Herro-type contract is a reasonable request for Reaves. Herro’s stats are quite similar to Reaves’. He does score a bit more but Reaves puts up a much better fight on the defensive end than Herro.
Still, will the Lakers want to pay Reaves this much money now that they are committed to building around Luka Doncic?
The Lakers may opt for a less top-heavy roster construction. Luka is going to be paid the maximum possible, and the Lakers may prefer to surround him with a ton of role players in the $10-$20 million a year range.
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That being said, Reaves could be the ideal secondary ball-handler behind Luka, and as a fan favorite, it will be hard to let him go just because of financial issues.
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