It's not a matter of if Austin Reaves will decline his $14.9 million player option for the 2026-27 season to become an unrestricted free agent, as there is a 99.99999% chance that will happen. It's also not a matter of if the Los Angeles Lakers want to re-sign him, and, luckily, as Rob Pelinka said on Tuesday, the guard wants to stay in purple and gold.
Pelinka says both sides have made it “abaduntely clear” that they want to work to keep Austin Reaves with the Lakers.
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) May 12, 2026
There are teams out there with cap space this summer to go after Reaves, like the Jazz, and, technically speaking, they'll have a shot to sign him, but it will be the kind that clangs off the backboard without even hitting the rim.
Reaves isn't going anywhere. He will only decline his option because he has far outplayed the four-year, $56 million extension he signed with Los Angeles in 2023. He could make as much as $41.5 million next season alone, which would amount to three-quarters of his previous contract, but that will be if the Lakers pay him the most he can get — $241 million across five years. That doesn't mean he will sign for that much, though.
Either way, he's going to get paid, and it will be by the Lakers.
Lakers aren't letting Austin Reaves go anywhere
Los Angeles will construct its roster around Luka Dončić this summer, and Reaves is an ideal fit alongside him in the backcourt with his ability on or off the ball. Dončić wants him to return, too, and having his stamp of approval means a lot.
The partnership they built over the past year and a half will expand into what the Lakers know can be a championship-caliber duo, or else LA's top priority wouldn't be bringing him back. There is no other No. 2 option out there who can give them what Reaves does, making it an easy decision.
It's a good thing that it sounds like Reaves' decision will be just as easy. Even before Monday's loss, he'd given zero indication that he was even thinking about leaving Los Angeles. He's been all about the Lakers even before they signed him in 2021 after he went undrafted. Thanks again to the Pistons for not drafting them.
Los Angeles didn't know just how lucky it was getting back then by bringing in the guard from small-town Arkansas. Reaves seemed to know that this would be how it went all along, but it will still have to be a little surreal for him this summer when he signs the biggest deal of his NBA career.
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