Arguably the biggest storyline surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason is Austin Reaves’ restricted free agency. Reaves shined on the brightest stage for the Lake Show and while that helped the team make the Western Conference Finals, it also increased his free-agent value as well.
The Lakers have the ability to offer Reaves a four-year contract of just over $50 million. Other teams, so long that they have cap space, can offer Reaves more than the Lakers can. Los Angeles has the ability to match any offer sheet but it does create complicated salary-cap situations in the future.
For this reason, it is feasible that Reaves could sign with another team if a massive offer comes in. It would not be the first time that the Lake Show let a fan favorite leave for monetary reasons and monetary reasons only.
That being said, it looks like fans are going to get to avoid the heartbreak this offseason. NBA insider Marc Stein confirmed in his latest report that the Lakers are a “lock” to retain Reaves regardless of the price he ends up signing for this offseason.
"The Lakers, league sources say, are a lock to match any offer on Reaves — even if someone signs Reaves to the maximum allowable offer sheet worth nearly $100 million over four years."
— Harrison Faigen (@hmfaigen) June 27, 2023
From @TheSteinLine's latest Substackhttps://t.co/0EqpyMSdrD
Lakers will bring back Austin Reaves regardless of the price
Of course, nothing is concrete and until the pen hits the paper with Reaves and the Lake Show there is at least reason to be concerned. But all signs seem to be pointing toward Reaves returning to Los Angeles and that is exceptional news.
As mentioned earlier, this will cause an interesting financial situation for the Lakers. Because of the Gilbert Arenas provision, Reaves’ contract would be back-loaded and would create a situation in which he has a massive cap hit in years three and four of this deal.
A team with cap space does not have to deal with this. If another team has the cap space then it can take the average cap hit of the four years. It will be larger in the first two years but will not balloon to over $30 million in years three and four.
Here is how the financial situation would break down for the Lakers if Reaves were to agree to the maximum offer sheet:
The salary cap going up raises Austin Reaves' maximum allowable offer sheet to $101.9M.
— Yossi Gozlan (@YossiGozlan) June 27, 2023
This would be the structure if the Lakers match:
2023-24: $12.4M
2024-25: $13M
2025-26: $37.4M
2026-27: $39.1M
$25.5M in cap space would be required for teams to offer Reaves this contract. https://t.co/XCxe5Htcx2
As it stands right now, only four teams are estimated to have enough practical cap space. The Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers, San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets are the four teams with the required practical cap space, per Spotrac.