Austin Reaves is one of the biggest fish in the free agency pond for the summer of 2026. That will inevitably have teams come calling, and put the Los Angeles Lakers in a position to fend off other suitors. There may be a level of discomfort until one actually sees who the main competition is.
Reaves will be an unrestricted free agent after inevitably declining his player option for the 2026-27 season, so the situation should be handled with care. No one is disputing that. However, any ideas of the other major money players in free agency truly rivaling them is not particularly threatening.
Zach Lowe recently suggested Reaves' agents could use the Brooklyn Nets and Chicago Bulls, both of whom have cap space and a need in the backcourt, to help get their client a bigger payday in the offseason. Lowe thought those two teams would be leverage points for every agent. That idea could have legs before taking a second to remember what the Lakers guard has stated in the past.
Reaves, himself, has said he would much rather play in a winning situation than one where the talented offensive guard is simply putting up his numbers on a bad team. The Bulls and Nets represent the latter.
Bulls and Nets do not offer a real flight risk for Austin Reaves
Before the start of the 2025-26 season, Reaves said: "Thank God I play with Luka [Doncic] and LeBron [James]. I don’t want to be in a situation where I’m just going out chucking, getting numbers. If that’s the map for me to be an All-Star, I don’t care about that.”
Brooklyn and Chicago would both qualify as the unfavorable situations that Reaves was describing in his statement. Thus, Lowe's idea of the Lakers being threatened by AR's agents pulling up massive deals from the Bulls and Nets should be taken with a pinch of salt. It speaks to a lack of understanding of what the openly-stated priorities are of the soon-to-be free agent.
Furthermore, Reaves' own comments from the exit interview add even more fuel to make one believe that this is not a re-signing he intends to make difficult. The Lakers guard highlighted that he makes good money to play what he described as a kid's game.
That does not scream pushing Rob Pelinka and the front office for every dollar they have.
Ultimately, Reaves donning anything but a Lakers jersey to start 2026-27 would be surprising. What would be downright shocking is him ending up in a mediocre situation like the ones Brooklyn or Chicago have to offer.
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