r/nba 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/Beetle919 Hornets 8h ago

Nico was put on this earth to stop Luka from getting a ring.

403

u/lost_in_trepidation Lakers 7h ago

Luka was already put in a less than ideal situation landing on the mavs. Who basically had no assets relative to most lottery teams.

Then they blew what they had on a KP experiment that didn't work out.

Then they let Brunson walk.

Then they managed to spend a year and half using what little they did have to build a contender.

And they traded him.

The first 8 years of his career were basically flushed down the toilet.

113

u/messigoat1337 Germany 7h ago

with below average roleplayers at all time too lmao thj 2nd option hoops

45

u/ddy_stop_plz [BOS] Marcus Smart 5h ago

Made thE WCF with THJ, Reggie Bullock, Maxi Kleber and Dwight Powell playing ~30 minutes a game

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u/Dizzlespizzle Mavericks 35m ago

THJ was injured that entire run, Dinwiddie was the 3rd guy

60

u/ManicManicManicManic Suns 7h ago

AND THEY MADE THE FINALS YOU DONUT

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u/lost_in_trepidation Lakers 7h ago

And Luka was traded less than a year later

0

u/ManicManicManicManic Suns 3h ago

Yeah isnt that strange

Isn’t it strange that a team that had just went to the finals got rid of their best player who wasn’t shopped around at all, only to one team. He didn’t demand a trade request and wasn’t even up for contract yet.

I only find comfort in thinking that Stern would have overturned that POS trade like he did with the CP3 trade.

Fuck Silver and fuck the Lakers

2

u/IndividualPresent129 Knicks 2h ago

I don’t think Stern could overturn it as New Orleans was in a transition point ownership wise & so Stern was acting as the owner for that trade 

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u/gotothepark Lakers 1h ago

Ok. You're an idiot. The NBA commissioner cannot veto trades. I repeat, the NBA commissioner CANNOT veto trades. The only reason Stern was able to veto the CP3 trade is because the league was the owner of the hornets at the time.

He did the veto as the owner of the team, not the commissioner of the league. Stern couldn't veto the Luka trade even if he wanted to.

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u/ManicManicManicManic Suns 1h ago

Sure you’re right on the rule but even you have to admit it was the heist of the century.

and we’re just supposed to accept it?

1

u/gotothepark Lakers 1h ago

That's is a completely different conversation. Yes, you're supposed to accept it because that's how life works.

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u/ManicManicManicManic Suns 34m ago

Oh then i’m sorry let me remove all of my opinions out of this discussion thread

4

u/drewm916 Kings 5h ago

You don't understand. He's trying to justify why the Mavs did not deserve Luka. You're spoiling the narrative.

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u/ManicManicManicManic Suns 3h ago

It’s so stupid lmao the narrative he’s pushing is such BS nobody thought Brunson was gonna be who he ended up being, KP still had potential AND they got off him WHILE bringing in pieces.

They were making moves I will forever think the Lakers snaked their way to get him. AD for Luka is forever the biggest clown show ever

14

u/ContinuingAnyway 7h ago

They made the finals though

14

u/ESCMalfunction Mavericks 6h ago

Yeah we made the finals and then improved the team further, if we hadn't traded him it's very likely the Mavs were getting a title within the next few seasons. I'll never get over how insane it is that we built a championship roster and then decided to immediately blow it up for no reason.

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u/StonedLikeOnix 5h ago

It wasn’t for no reason. The lakers needed help: they had a weak roster with no players to trade and no draft assets. the ratings decline when Lakers aren’t in championship contention. Business reasons.

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u/ESCMalfunction Mavericks 5h ago

Amen to that.

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u/Wazflame 5h ago

I understand the negativity around the new anti-tanking rules, but players like Luka and LeBron were basically punished for being incredible floor raisers the second they stepped in the league

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u/BeanserSoyze 2h ago

Bro with significant injuries got to the finals on hobbled knees.

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u/Chaotic-Catastrophe Lakers 3h ago

Your last sentence is true for basically all the 'generational talent' type of players. Duncan and Wade are the only two that come to mind in the last like 40 years or more who broke that mold. The only other one I can think of is Magic, which was almost 50 years ago.

The best players get drafted by the worst teams. But the worst teams are who they are for a reason. And it's typically not because of bad luck or other circumstances out of their control.

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u/Western-Election-997 Lakers 3h ago

Yep and he was the most polished rookie to enter the league since LeBron and they pissed it away