Austin Reaves has made the rise from undrafted free agent to fan favorite on the Los Angeles Lakers and he has done it the hard way. Reaves has exhibited everything that a basketball fan loves to see in an NBA player as he has naturally become the most likeable player on the entire roster.
Reaves exploded for a career-high 35 points against the Orlando Magic on Sunday and after a performance like that, conversations about his future market value began. Reaves is a restricted free agent this summer and the fanbase will be outraged if the team does not bring him back.
Los Angeles can only sign Reaves to a four-year, $50.6 million contract. However, other teams can offer Reaves more thanks to the poison pill provision. Other teams can only pay him the value of the Mid-Level Exception in year one, but they can still increase the overall value of the contract.
Other teams can inflate the last two years as high as a max deal, which caps out as a four-year, $98.6 million contract. Reaves likely won’t get that much but could another team be willing to offer Reaves $23 million in year three and $25 million in year four to give him a four-year, $71.3 million contract.
All that being said, the Lakers have the ability to match a deal like this thanks to the Gilbert Arenas Provision, although things could get dicey.
The Lakers have to be smart with the contract they give Austin Reaves.
This is truly a unique situation for the Lake Show and one that they have to be prepared for. The team already let one fan favorite walk for nothing in Alex Caruso, the last thing that this fanbase wants is another fan favorite to walk.
Luckily, the team does have the benefit of Reaves being a lifelong Lakers fan, so he might be more willing to work more with the Lakers than a free agent with no connection to the franchise.
It might take some creativity for the Lakers. But there are some recent contracts the team can try and model Reaves’ after.