The Los Angeles Lakers, by all accounts, want to re-sign Austin Reaves this summer once he declines his player option. Luka Doncic, by all accounts, wants Reaves back. The writing has been on the wall in LA for some time -- Reaves will be a Laker once again in 2026-27 and beyond. The Lakers are committing to a Luka-Reaves future.
But there are still money discussions to be had in all of this. Retaining Reaves this summer will bring with it a big boy price, and for any Lakers fan out there sneakily holding out for a potential bargain Reaves deal to help with other roster needs, don't get your hopes up. Reaves is expected to get max money or near-max money, according to multiple NBA insiders, including Sam Vecenie of The Athletic, who discussed the Reaves contract situation this week on his Game Theory podcast.
Austin Reaves isn't going to be signed for much less than the max
"I'm going to guess that, if [Reaves] doesn't have max money on the market, he has damn close to max money on the market," Vecenie said of Reaves.
Did Reaves lose himself some money this postseason by not playing like his star self? Such a narrative isn't grounded in any sort of truth.
Vecenie pointed out that while certain fans complained about Reaves' playoff performance this year, these complaints were unfounded because Reaves still averaged 20/6/4 in six games despite playing with an oblique injury well below 100%.
Moreover, Reaves didn't shoot the ball well from 3 in the playoffs (25.7%), but that can be attributed to the fact that he was getting his legs back and had lost a ton of rhythm from being out for a month. Vecenie also noted that Reaves has played well in the playoffs before, so it's not like there's some legitimate stigma attached to AR when it comes to postseason performance.
Austin Reaves' potential new deal is a financial commitment that darkens LA's offseason
Since LeBron James is also expected by most people to re-sign with the Lakers, Reaves' signing can no longer be celebrated by Lakers fans praying for contention in 2026-27. It's not going to happen if Luka, AR, and Bron are all along for the ride once again.
The grim reality of re-signing Reaves and LeBron this offseason -- which was never an expected outcome until around March of this year -- is that the Lakers won't be able to properly fill out the rest of the roster with depth to support its Luka-centric strategy. If you were a fan out there wondering if Reaves' market value might be significantly lower than the max (thereby freeing up the Lakers a bit!), Vecenie's instincts and subsequent prediction for Reaves might've just spoiled your weekend.
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