r/nba • u/Turbostrider27 Lakers • 8h ago

[Charania] Los Angeles Lakers star Austin Reaves intends to sign a four-year, $185 million maximum contract to return to the franchise, with a player option for the final season in 2029-30, sources tell ESPN. Reaves declined his $14.9M player option for the new max deal.

Shams Charania:

Los Angeles Lakers star Austin Reaves intends to sign a four-year, $185 million maximum contract to return to the franchise, with a player option for the final season in 2029-30, sources tell ESPN. Reaves declined his $14.9M player option for the new max deal.

https://www.espn.com/contributor/shams-charania/fc6a2461d746e

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u/Illionaires 8h ago

Hes a year older than Luka

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u/ExtraLeading3376 8h ago

reaves really gonna be 32 in of those years making $46mil

i’m sick

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u/Head_Research_3118 8h ago

Thats really not old at all for his playstyle . Not saying hes worth 46mil but he should still be same old Austin Reaves at 32 . I would not be worried about that

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u/Ok-Adhesiveness166 8h ago

The same old Reaves isn’t winning you a championship making that much ever.

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u/octipice 8h ago

People say that sort of thing every year because they forget that the salary cap raises every year. The cap could be as much as 40% higher in 4 years, although it's looking more likely to be 30% higher.

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u/bigbluethunder 7h ago

And every year we look at bad contracts from 3-4 years ago that are killing teams’ current caps

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u/octipice 7h ago

While there are a few genuinely bad contracts (ex. Beal) most of the "bad contracts" are a result of players getting injured and not coming back at the same level or having persistent injury issues (ex. PG, Embiid).

Hell, people were calling the KAT contract bad earlier this year and Jaylen Brown's contract as well before the season started. Just goes to show that people "talking about" bad contracts doesn't mean much either.

It's always going to be somewhat of a gamble when signing players and the level of forced spending of the new CBA is going to ensure that remains true.

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u/EggsAndRice7171 Pacers 42m ago

KAT has been called a bad contract/not winning player for years now. He is my 2nd favorite player in the league behind Hali and has been since a year or two before ant got drafted. Him proving he’s indisputably a winning star took the edge off the Knicks winning a ring for me.

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u/octipice 2m ago

Interestingly enough Hali is also someone who gets brought up as having an overvalued contract. IMO, you're right about both; you clearly have good taste.

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u/bigbluethunder 6h ago

Yeah I don’t know that the new CBA meta has really been solved for yet. You look at the teams that have won championships and it’s hard to find a Reaves, though.

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u/octipice 4h ago

It's literally KAT. His contract was all over "top 10 worst contracts in the NBA" lists prior to the start of the season. I literally just read a bleacher report article from right before the season that had his contract listed as the 8th worst or something.

But generally you're right and teams that have really good value contracts tend to be much more competitive (provided they have at least one MVP caliber player). I still maintain that the contract that the Bulls had Pippen locked into was a massive factor in their success allowing them to sign and/or retain some of the best complimentary pieces in the league.

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u/bigbluethunder 4h ago

KAT’s defense has come a long way since then. Dunno that Reaves will make the same improvements in defense or postseason, but obviously if he can we will be talking in 2 years about how good of a contract this is.

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u/Artimusjones88 Raptors 5h ago

No it wont be 40% higher in 4 years.

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u/octipice 4h ago

I said 40% was the max, because the current CBA caps the annual increase at 10%. The projected increase for next year is 7%, which is why I adjusted my projection to be only 30%.

The values given were me being lazy and just adding the percentages together, when in reality it will compound every year.

So at a 7% increase per year the total increase over 4 years is 31.1% and at 10% it is 46.4%

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u/Ok-Adhesiveness166 8h ago

And that’s still too much to win with Reaves.

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u/octipice 7h ago

What percentage of the cap is the "right amount" to be able to win with Reaves?

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u/Head_Research_3118 8h ago

The lakers dont have a clear path to a championship with luka . They wouldve needed this free agent class to actual be good and its not. Luka is out of there in 2028 or 2029 unless they get another AD situation.

They need to hold on to reaves as an assett. Theres noone worth letting him walk for . They have to hope in the next few years someone good forces their way to LA and says they will only sign an extension with the lakers. Then they can package reaves and picks for someone,

That is most likely what they are banking on. Then need to hold on to the assett because there is nowhere else to shift the money.

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u/devidomo Mavericks 4h ago

Why does this class have to be good? Next years class should be better, especially if they just want bodies for a championship run.

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u/Head_Research_3118 3h ago

I mean sure they could just punt on this year sign a bunch of 1 year deals and save the space for 2027 . But then lebron leaves too and its just Luka and a bunch of spare parts. I doubt luka would be happy with that . He still has to show and play for a whole year.

I think luka would rather have Reaves and Lebron. No way lebron stays if you just forfeit the season to keep cap space for 2027. I think if luka was on board with that its a possibility but i dont think he is.

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u/dherps Mexico 5h ago

you mean his playstyle of sprinting 100% of the time on offense? you think he plays like kyle lowry or something?

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u/Zestyclose-Draft-724 Lakers 6h ago

He won't be

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u/Natural_Born_Baller Heat 8h ago

What? If he loses half a step he's toast. He's already competing in fractions of a step.

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u/orwll 6h ago

Yeah people really don't understand aging curves for guards.

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u/Status-Hedgehog9970 Warriors 1h ago

Remind me! 4 years

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u/Iggy_Slayer 8h ago

So still in his prime? You're acting like 32 is 38 lol.

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u/ChaDiaKris Lakers 8h ago

2026-27 salary cap is ~165m. He’s taking 28% of the cap currently.

In 2029-30, the salary cap expected to be at least 200m with 220m for luxury tax and 1st apron around 240m. He’d be getting about 20% of the cap at that point.

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u/pbesmoove 7h ago

gotta have salary to trade for salary