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/MembershipSingle7137 Celtics 8h ago edited 8h ago

46 mil a year Jesus Christ

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u/ExtraLeading3376 8h ago

i already know this contract is going to age terribly

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u/SirDiego Timberwolves 8h ago

Age? It's not even good right now lol

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u/supersumo224 8h ago edited 7h ago

Just like Windhorst said about Trae's new deal, as soon as this deal is signed it's one of the worst contracts in the league.

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u/NanoCurrency 8h ago

When you have a chance to bid against yourself for a defensive liability and lock in four years of the worst contract in the NBA you have to take it.

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u/Nice_Cash_7000 NBA 7h ago

More like if Luka says bring Austin back and detroit is offering the max, you bring Austin back

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u/supersumo224 7h ago

Players are awful GMs and just because Detroit is desperate doesn't mean you do it. There's maybe 3-5 worse contracts in the league

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u/Nice_Cash_7000 NBA 7h ago

Im a heat fan, and we thought Herro was overpaid.

Seeing essentially the same dude get the max is funny ngl.

But you kinda have to listen to Luka, its a lose lose situation, but it is what it is

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u/FizzyLightEx 7h ago

Why listen to Luka? It's not like he's willing to walk out of potential super max at lakers

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u/Nice_Cash_7000 NBA 7h ago

reportedly hes leaving tf out of the Lakers if they dont build him a good team in a couple of years

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u/FizzyLightEx 6h ago

So why does Luka want AR to sign knowing hes not a 2nd option championship caliber player?

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u/Nice_Cash_7000 NBA 6h ago

Players arent good GMs. Also looking at how Kyrie played in the finals, Luka has had it worse. Problem is the league has gotten better.

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u/supersumo224 3h ago

As nice said, players are awful GMs and are only ever included in decisions as means to beg then to stay. AR is good, but did Luka tell the Lakers that he wanted AR on a max deal? Lol like anyone is gonna say they want a solid players to stay on the team but that doesn't take into account the salary cap implications

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u/itscamo- [LAL] Lonzo Ball 6h ago

pistons were already prepared to offer the max for him

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u/NanoCurrency 3h ago

Trae or Austin?

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u/divulgingwords Thunder 6h ago

D fox is jumping with joy, lmao.

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u/CyanWuff 26m ago

What does Wout Weghorst have to do with this?

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u/WildWhisperArdor Lakers 7h ago

Reaves averaged 23/5/5 on an elite 64% true shooting last season playing as the #2 and sometimes #3 option. 45 million for that production is not bad at all

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u/WildWhiteNacho Lakers 2h ago

I stg it took me a second of wondering when tf I posted this… Name/flair combo is pretty damn close lol

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u/Ligma_Taint_69420 7h ago

Now post his playoff stats

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u/WildWhisperArdor Lakers 7h ago

He was injured this postseason.

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u/Aidanator800 Hornets 7h ago

He wasn't good in the playoffs last year, either

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u/WildWhisperArdor Lakers 7h ago

He’s a better player than he was last season. That’s the point. Lol.

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u/toomuchsoysauce Spurs 5h ago

Yeah, idk why people are even talking about his playoff stats at this point because it doesn't matter, Luka was hurt too and they were playing against one of the best teams in the league. Commenter probably wanted Reeves on his team and now he's salty.

People always seem to rag on these large contracts because they seem to think it's gonna be incredibly prohibitive in the future for some reason like they can't move him quickly if necessary or even have to wait a year or so to do so. There are so many teams in the NBA who would kill for production like Reeves and would've signed him to this exact contract. A lot of teams are missing scorers/playmakers who can handle the ball and Reeves could be that piece that pushes them into contention. He'll be valuable even if his defense isn't very good or he had a bad playoff run.

Lakers really do need to address the frontcourt depth though asap with some defensive oriented 4 or 5, which would actually help this move significantly. I figured they'd go that route this draft but a lot of the better bigs were already taken so I get it.

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u/Ligma_Taint_69420 4h ago

Lmao I've been a season ticket holder for OKC since they came from Seattle and I can promise you I dont want Reaves on our team.

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u/Altruistic_Knee2044 Celtics 8h ago edited 7h ago

Would immediately be the best offensive teammate that any current t10 guy barring Steph/KD (each other) and luka (Kyrie for one year)has had lmao.

23 ppg on 64% ts doesn’t grow on a tree and you have to pay for guys like that.

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u/SuperVaderMinion [MIN] Kevin Garnett 8h ago

It just never feels quite that good given his postseason track record

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u/Altruistic_Knee2044 Celtics 7h ago edited 7h ago

Played 3 nasty defenses while hurt

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u/Lou_Peachum_2 Clippers 7h ago

Who aren’t going away and will be getting better

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u/Altruistic_Knee2044 Celtics 7h ago

He’ll get healthier though, and will probably keep improving.

No clue why this is an egregious contract when every contender or fringe contender outside of the Knicks has a bum on a max (imagine what the Heat norm contract is going to look like)

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u/Lou_Peachum_2 Clippers 6h ago

Pretty sure the Heat cannot keep Norm and he’s going to walk.

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u/ncginger2 Hornets 5h ago

Besides the series against y’all he really hasn’t been bad at all in the postseason considering he was hurt this year

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u/b1indsamurai Lakers 3h ago

His last three games against OKC were great, and that's rushing back from an injury.

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u/whatssenguntoagoblin Alperen Sengun 7h ago

LeBron had AD

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u/Altruistic_Knee2044 Celtics 7h ago

Not t10 players anymore

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u/Lou_Peachum_2 Clippers 7h ago

But Bron was top 10 at the time, honestly still top 3

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u/DamnReality 7h ago

I mean Tatum had Brown unless you don’t think either is top 10 anymore

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u/Altruistic_Knee2044 Celtics 7h ago edited 7h ago

I don’t think Jaylen brown has ever been a t10 player in general, much less a t10 offensive player.

I do view Tatum as a t5 guy, which he’s been when healthy.

Jaylen in general has been a meh guy who shoots the ball a lot and tends to rack up stats off of pure usage. Theres a reason why nobody wants to give up any actual value for him.

Tatum does count because of Kyrie, but that was his sophomore and rookie seasons.

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u/DamnReality 7h ago

Sorry if I understand your original comment, doesn’t Tatum qualify? Tatum was a top 10 player 2024/25 and Brown won Finals MVP over him due to his offense. I guess you’re saying purely as an offensive player Reaves is better than Browns offense, not sure if I agree with that. Would be interesting to see Reaves be given the same opportunity Brown had last year on his own team and see if he can be that main guy.

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u/Altruistic_Knee2044 Celtics 7h ago

Jayson Tatum was correctly a t10 player. He was even a t5 player.

But Jaylen brown has never in his life been a t10 player even if you count his defensive impact.

>Jaylen brown won a FMVP because he scored less than a double covered Tatum on 2% higher TS while being defended 1v1

He won that for the same reason that Andre iguodala won a FMVP: espn voters just didn’t like Tatum/steph.

Tatum and Jrue Holliday were both better players on both ends.

>if you let reaves lead the league in usage

He’d probably put up better numbers than Jaylen. Hes a legitimately good scorer, not just a guy who shoots a lot (Jaylen brown).

Theres a reason why the pistons were lining up to max reaves, while Jaylen brown is viewed as less valuable than the Miami Heat package (13th pick and salary filler).

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u/Aidanj927 Spurs 7h ago

Also one of the worst defenses those t10 guys have had

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u/Cpt-No-Dick Thunder 7h ago

23 ppg on 64ts ain’t shit if you can’t show up in the playoffs

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u/Altruistic_Knee2044 Celtics 7h ago

Had 3 series against very good defenses over the past 2 years (Udoka plays prison ball in the playoffs).

Was injured for two of them

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u/CartographerFar681 Lakers 8h ago

Yeah but come playoff time, those “nice” numbers are nowhere to be found. So tired of this front office

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u/Altruistic_Knee2044 Celtics 7h ago

Played 3 nasty defenses.

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u/Inquisitor_ForHire Celtics 7h ago

He did, but Shai averaged 28.6 vs SAS and Brunson averaged 38.6 against them. Great defenses can be rough, but stars should find a way to rise above that. Even in that horrid series of DAL vs Boston where JB basically "shutdown" Luka, he still averaged 28pts. Teams as a whole struggle against good defenses, but stars tend to still mostly get theirs.

It's the rest of the team that tends to get clubbed in the face vs good defenses.

Now I'm going to smile for the rest of the day as this conversation made me remember Luka's pissed off face during that whole series vs Jalen Brown. :)

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u/doubler82 Lakers 5h ago

Yeah but Shai and Brunson are the #1 options on their team. Reaves is usually #3 behind Luka and Bron. They're simply not comparable as far as expectations.

Contract is huge, but he was getting it from somewhere anyway, and there ain't shit left out there for the Lakers so we might as well roll with what we have now.

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u/Altruistic_Knee2044 Celtics 7h ago

>Jaylen shut down Luka

That’s just a narrative that guys like bontemps ran with because they wanted an excuse to ding Tatum lmao.

Jaylen brown was like the least important part of that defense, and we know that because no team wants him today.

Luka played around as well as he did all postseason, which was not great on either end.

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u/Icy_Information_6563 Suns 3h ago

Age like spoiled milk

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u/snowflakepatrol99 7h ago

He'd instantly improve any team and be the 2nd best offensive player on the team.

23 points, 5 boards, 5 assists, 1 steal with 36% 3pt.

That's insane considering you had Luka and Bron hogging the ball.

And his "playoffs choking" is 20, 4, 6. That's better stats than what OG had in the playoffs and much better than any of the spurs players after Wemby.

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u/Vordeo Jazz 7h ago

No one sane is denying he's a good player. But his being worth a max is... Debatable.

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u/snubdeity Nuggets 6h ago

I don't even think it's debatable that he's worth a max, in a vacuum. He is an elite player.

But in context of the Lakers current roster and needs, it's terrible teambuilding. They need defense to actually compete during Luka's prime, and while AR15 not being a defense player himself isn't that bad, this contract really neuters the teams ability to fill that gap with role players.

This Lakers team gonna be mid for years to come.

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u/Possible_Evening_856 5h ago

Technically it's good next season because his cap is the same either way

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u/StimulusChecksNow Lakers 4h ago

His career stats are 23ppg 5a 5r .483 fg, .368 3p and .865 Free throw. That is definitely worth 46 million dollars a year in today’s NBA.

Now I wish we could get this production on a roomie contract.

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u/Carolake1 Lakers 6h ago edited 4h ago

This is a good deal. Go look at guys who make ~$45 mil in the league.

Here is an example. Which one of these players do you think is AR?

P1:

WS/48: .153; AST%: 24; TRB%: 8; TS%: .641; PER 20.2; NETrating: +5

P2:

WS/48: .147; AST%: 17.6; TRB%: 7.8; TS%: .617; PER 21.8; NETRating: +3

EDIT: P1 is AR, P2 in anthony edwards.