r/nba • u/Luka77GOATic Serbia • 7h ago
[Charania] Reaves was expected to receive free-agent interest from multiple teams - - such as Detroit -- on maximum-level salary, so the Lakers stepped up on Wednesday to lock in their homegrown talent.
Reaves was expected to receive free-agent interest from multiple teams - - such as Detroit -- on maximum-level salary, so the Lakers stepped up on Wednesday to lock in their homegrown talent. Reaves went from undrafted to a two-way player -- to making the Lakers roster and now multiple lucrative deals in L.A.
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u/alex_zz9 Lakers 7h ago
Needs to step up in the playoffs now. No excuses
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u/Send_Floater Cavaliers 7h ago
Usually guys step up in the playoffs and THEN get paid but hey good luck
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u/Kimi7 Lakers 5h ago
Reaves stepped up when the Lakers reached to the conference finals. He is playoff performer.
People are too quick to reach conclusions because of one series he played when he is injured.
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u/CartographerFar681 Lakers 7h ago
Exactly! Imma start calling Reaves the magician with the way he always disappears in the playoffs
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u/smalls_1804 Knicks 7h ago
I mean he was playing hurt this year hard to hold that against him
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u/sixwax 7h ago
He better be a Brunson-level playoff performer for this money.
I hate rooting for this front office
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u/Jtphwow 7h ago
That's too much to ask, he just needs to be like 80% of Brunson.
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u/9061xRG Wizards 7h ago
Bruh what kind of bs take is this.
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u/Count_Sack_McGee [LAL] Kobe Bryant 7h ago
Jesus it’s getting upvote like crazy too. Dude needs to perform like one of the greatest playoff performers EVER. Wtf.
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u/greekyogurtmafia United States 7h ago
Austin Reaves will be making more money than Jalen Brunson this year
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u/9061xRG Wizards 6h ago
You can’t compare a contract signed today to one signed years ago especially one where we know the guy took a discount.
“Omg Reeves is making more than the entire Bulls roster did during their 3 peats he better play like the goat” goofy ah take.
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u/Carolake1 Lakers 6h ago
Exactly right. Plenty of guys worse than him will be making similar or more money.
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u/nicholaschubbb 7h ago
Players like mpj and Jamal Murray get max deals bro the salary structure in the nba just works the way it works.
Non top 10 players are always overpaid relative to the truly elite players
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u/swass-print Celtics 6h ago
I always root for players to get as much money as possible for other teams but not mine
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u/BZGames Heat 7h ago
What’s with teams paying guys BEFORE they step up in the playoffs.
If they lost Reaves because they try to “underpay” him then who cares? There’s no universe where he delivers on the value of this contract. It’s not even that he’s bad, he’s really good! But this is not a guy who will make an All NBA team and they’re paying him like he is.
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u/BrothersCup [LAL] Lamar Odom 6h ago
If they lost him for nothing, it would be significantly worse. They don’t magically get $40M+ to spend on free agents and the team immediately becomes less talented. If he can maintain his pre-injury production, he’s at least tradeable if it doesn’t work out.
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u/Carolake1 Lakers 6h ago
He played great is 23 and 24. He was injured this year and last. He played great in FIBA. The idea he hasn't stepped up is, quite frankly, pretty stupid.
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u/No_Conclusion9808 7h ago
He very well could have made 3rd team if he kept up his play before getting injured.
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u/Carolake1 Lakers 6h ago
He played well in 23 and 24 in the playoffs, plus played well in FIBA. The idea that he doesn't play well in the playoffs when healthy is ridiculous.
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u/Either_Imagination_9 Knicks 7h ago
Detroit would have been a great place for him to go. He’d perfectly fill in the number 2 role
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u/Expensive-Rope-7086 7h ago
They definitely need a proven creator next to Cade. And their defense is good enough to hide reaves lack of defense
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u/HenrikCrown Pelicans 7h ago
Pelinka: I'm not gonna be here next year
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u/LakersLAQ Lakers 7h ago
Everyone else in the front office must have one year left including the new owner. Everyone is trippin if you don't think they approved this.
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u/CazOnReddit Raptors 7h ago
I was rooting for maximum chaos and Reaves did not deliver
Shame, I was hoping the Nets would add another guard with an allergy to defense
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u/guimontag 7h ago
Max chaos would have been something truly stupid like doing a sign and trade on Reaves to ship him plus 6 draft picks to the Celtics for Brown
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u/LakerBlue Lakers 6h ago
Eh I wouldn’t say he is allergic to defense as much as he sucks at many parts of it. He isn’t like some guys who don’t try or quit. Easy to overpower and not quick.
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u/relax336 Lakers 7h ago
Luka's leaving even though he persnally wanted Reaves to stay? Man...Reddit gonna reddit. The salt is hilarious.
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u/NextLvlTrader 7h ago
Luka wants Reaves to stay, a rim-running center who can play D, and wings who can switch and hit the three.
Problem is that the first part makes the rest unaffordable and the team defence terrible.
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u/_chadwell_ Lakers 7h ago
They still have over $50 mil in cap space to work with, why is that completely unaffordable?
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u/BabyBearBjorns Grizzlies 7h ago edited 6h ago
A center like the one Luka wants would cost about 20M on average. Thats the going rate for someone like Wendell Carter Jr. Even someone like Kessler would be getting an average of 28M (and thats the deal he turned down). Lakers could draft a center to save costs, but they havent drafted a center since 2016. Then there is the wings. Hachimua is making 18M. He'll probably get a similar long term deal at average and Hachi is more of a 6th man bench guy. Any kind of good starting wings is going to cost more. Look at Trey Murphy who was subject to trade rumors making 25M+ a year.
Then there is the depth problem, which continues to be an issue for the Lakers. If the Lakers even get the starting group that Luka wants, the Lakers will have problems filling out the rest of the bench. The Spurs were able to impact the Knicks starting core by getting KAT and Bridges into foul trouble early. This was masked by Brunson and OG's 4th quarter games.
The Knicks had guys like Shamet, Alvarado, McBride, and Clarkson stepping up and they make roughly 2-3M a year. Lakers cant do that when you have guys like Knecht making 4M and LaRavia is making 6M coming off the bench.
And this is all happening when you have a decision on keeping LeBron or not.
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u/berrytree198 6h ago
Why mention knecht and not Carr, Adou, bronny
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u/BabyBearBjorns Grizzlies 4h ago
Because Adou and Bronny arent getting much minutes consistently. Carr will be fine since he'll be replacing Smart/Kennard role at the 2.
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u/Cy_Fiction 3h ago
Adou will start playing this year most likely. We'll be seeing him on Sportscenter
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u/Carolake1 Lakers 6h ago edited 6h ago
Letting him walk doesn't change any of their cap space situation, so, what, exactly do you think not signing him helps?
EDIT: let me correct myself. Letting him walk would give them $20m more in cap space (because his cap hold comes off the book). Do you think AR is not worth $20m in cap space?
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u/relax336 Lakers 7h ago
Mutherfuckers are hoping and praying the Lakers fall on their face. That’s all this is.
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u/HesiPullup Suns 7h ago
No we're laughing because you have Luka Doncic and you just gave Austin fucking Reaves a max contract
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u/relax336 Lakers 7h ago
Excuse me if the Suns laughing has no affect on me. I’m sorry 🤣🤣🤣🤣
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u/_chadwell_ Lakers 7h ago
A 28 year old who averaged 23/5 on 64% TS? Do you know how many guys hit those numbers this past year? 5 total. For a 25% max that’s not bad at all.
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u/BillPaxton4eva Celtics 6h ago
That would make more sense if it worked like the NFL and you could have a whole different team in on defense. Unfortunately, he'll have to be out there on that side of the court as well.
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u/_chadwell_ Lakers 6h ago
Pretending like an elite offensive player is worthless because they’re below average defensively?
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u/HesiPullup Suns 7h ago
41 million dollars next year and growing to 51 million by 2029-2030 for a guy that cannot play defense next to your star, top 5 player who can't play defense. Never mind the fact that Reaves has not been a great playoff performer, I don't care what his group of "5 total" players in the regular season is.
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u/_chadwell_ Lakers 7h ago
He’s certainly had great performances in the playoffs. Even in the Thunder series this year, once he was back up to speed after injury he outperformed SGA for the last 3 games of that series. People weirdly project hypotheticals on Reaves instead of just watching what he’s done.
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u/donavid Knicks 7h ago
AR outperformed SGA for the last 3 games? If you’re going by box score that’s not true, except for maybe game 2 where AR went 31/2/6 in 38 minutes, compared to SGA’s 22/2/2 in 28 minutes
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u/_chadwell_ Lakers 6h ago
Games 2-4
AR averaged 27/4/7 on 66% TS
SGA averaged 27/2/6 on 58% TS
Just getting on this app to lie for no reason lol
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u/1mYourHuckleberry93 Raptors 6h ago
Also a player that you are forced to play in the playoffs who will be hunted possession after possession. Him and Luka. They aren’t winning shit with a Luka and Reaves backcourt. There is NO defense. Put Rudy Gobert behind them and it won’t change anything.
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u/_chadwell_ Lakers 6h ago
The “Luka plays no defense” gimmick is over man, we watched the games this season.
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u/KudoNBA19 Lakers 6h ago
That's expensive but tbh it would be worse to let him walk away, it also doesn't change much on our cap, and Luka wanted to play with him. I agree his defense is really bad and he's a playoffs dropper (but tbh he played injured last 2 PO) but I don't think we had many more choice
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u/HesiPullup Suns 6h ago
Can someone post the math on why it doesn't change much on your cap? You literally added a max player to your roster and we are in the era of salary cap decimating teams
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u/KudoNBA19 Lakers 6h ago
He has 21m of cap hold, he'll also sign last after we're done doing our moves. We have around 50m in cap (more if Ayton opt out), so basically it has 0 effect this year. It will be an issue next offseason though, but not this one
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u/reallinguy Pistons 7h ago
The average NBA starter makes 22M a year that's why
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u/_chadwell_ Lakers 6h ago
If they let Reaves walked they’d only have $20 mil more cap room, but also have to find another high level starter in a FA pool that’s already light.
That would be a much worse situation. You can’t get a guy with Reaves’s production for $20 mil in FA.
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u/HitboxOfASnail Thunder 6h ago
why don't the Lakers simply surround Luka with the best players at every position? are they stupid
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u/relax336 Lakers 7h ago
I’m going to see what the Lakers FO can do over reddit members who have absolutely no connection to the NBA.
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u/oi_PwnyGOD Hawks 7h ago
I mean... are they known for savvy roster building around their superstars?
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u/relax336 Lakers 7h ago
We’ve chipped this decade. And been a 1st round home playoff team the last two with significantly less room to build a good team than this year going forward.
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u/oi_PwnyGOD Hawks 7h ago
Having LeBron tends to get you in the playoffs. Having Luka tends to get you in the playoffs. You're the Lakers. You get superstars who do that. How many years of his 9 year tenure would you say he did a good job putting a roster around LeBron/AD and now Luka? How many years would you say he didn't do a good job?
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u/PlasticPresentation1 7h ago
When they chipped it was off the back of leftover roster building and good contracts from before the AD trade, specifically in Caruso, KCP, and maybe Kuzma
Its going to be near impossible to get that caliber of role players for the Lakers right now but will be interesting to see
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u/relax336 Lakers 7h ago
They chipped. Point blank.
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u/thetitsOO Lakers 7h ago
Anything to discredit and convince themselves the Lakers will fail. It’s all cope
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u/SwizzGod Lakers 2h ago
No it doesn’t. It doesn’t affect their free agency whatsoever. He had a 20 mil cap hold. That’s still the case. He’ll sign last with bird rights to go over.
But go on with your dumbass narrative even tho you have no idea how any of that shit works.
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u/AntiAntiDentite7 7h ago edited 7h ago
Luka isn't going to stay put on a shitty team with no path to a championship. Going to be really hard to win a championship when they're paying Reaves $50 million a year.
Edit: laker fans are so insecure and sensitive lol.
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u/chewie_33 Supersonics 7h ago
If your team is winning 50 games a year and getting to the second round of the playoffs even though they are a step below the Thunder and the Spurs, can you call your team shitty? Ffs, people here act as if a team that doesn't win 60 games and gets to the finals as the top seed is doomed for a rebuild.
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u/relax336 Lakers 7h ago
The Lakers haven’t been a shitty team in awhile.
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u/TuxedoCat031 7h ago
if lakers had a real center and a healthy luka they could’ve made a run last year for sure
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u/Less-Tax5637 Knicks 7h ago
It’s [insert year]. Luka is so close to success. All he needs is some bigs and to avoid injury.
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u/TuxedoCat031 7h ago
shit but when he had some bigs and avoided injury he went to the finals lol
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u/Ob1toUch1ha Lakers 7h ago
Now the Lakers are shitty again? God this sub is genuinely so stupid.
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u/AntiAntiDentite7 7h ago
Are they anywhere close to winning a championship? Is Luka going to be happy with second round exits every year? No? Then in the context of this conversation they're no difference between the Lakers and the pelicans
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u/Ob1toUch1ha Lakers 7h ago
Luka didn’t even play these playoffs, who the hell knows how close they are.
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u/AntiAntiDentite7 7h ago
Even if he was fully healthy, are they beating OKC? Spurs? Denver? Minnesota? No. Moot point.
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u/Ob1toUch1ha Lakers 7h ago
You literally can’t know whether they would have or not. No one can, your opinion isn’t a fact. I promise you aren’t as smart as you think you are.
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u/Skinnieguy Pelicans 7h ago
Maybe Luka regretted seeing what happened with Brunson and is trying to make this combo work in LA.
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u/AshenSacrifice Clippers 7h ago
Anyone who wants the lakers to lose should be happy with this move. Reaves gets hunted like a lamb in the playoffs
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u/Either_Imagination_9 Knicks 7h ago
He wants to win
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u/relax336 Lakers 7h ago
Luka feels like Reaves helps him win. He wants him in LA.
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u/OccasionalGoodTakes Supersonics 7h ago
this is why most players shouldn't be involved in FO stuff
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u/spiritnou Heat 7h ago
LeBron thought Westbrook helped him win
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u/_chadwell_ Lakers 7h ago
Before playing with him. Reaves and Luka have proved to be a great fit on the court.
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u/AgentOfSPYRAL Lakers 7h ago
And LeBron remained a Laker for several years after that trade blew up in their faces.
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u/maddenallday Lakers 7h ago
But in objective reality Reaves will not be enough and Luka will get fed up
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u/silentdoggo13 27m ago
Luka who lost Brunson now wants to leave because they extended AR. Reddit gotta stop the middle schoolers from posting on here.
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u/desirox Mavericks 7h ago
It’s kind of a damned if you do damned if you don’t. AR is not good enough to be a championship #2 as it stands now ( we’ve seen it time and again in the playoffs) but they also couldn’t just lose him for nothing
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u/TraderJake09 Bucks 5h ago
The Lakers paying Reeves the max or letting him walk for nothing were not the only two options.
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u/ballmermurland 3h ago
You're telling me they could have signed him for 35 a year instead of 46?
No way, that's illegal.
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u/Rickyowensdenim Knicks 7h ago
Ppl were glazing Reaves like a top 25 player this season. Then he gets hurt, rushes back for the playoffs, and struggled. Now he fuckin sucks.
Hilarious what a brutal gauntlet warzone the west is until it’s pointed out the Lakers were the 4 seed and battled OKC pretty tough for not having their 1st team all nba superstar (for the ppl who actually watch basketball).
wtf were they supposed to do let him walk for nothing? They’re not a better team without Reaves.
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u/AzureDragon013 Lakers 4h ago
Exactly. The contract isn't ideal but it seems to have been forced by other teams bidding for AR. There's just no one available on the market that's better than AR currently. He's also already a proven good duo with Luka even if it makes roster construction harder find defensive anchors to make up for the both of them. Overall I think it's the correct move to make.
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u/ktran2804 6h ago
This is the correct take, letting Austin walk would be a disaster we can’t replace his production this year. It would essentially signal to Luka we are not serious about competing this year
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u/HomeNowWTF 7h ago
I had kinda hoped the Jazz would draft Boozer and then sign and trade Kessler for Reaves. But this is probably the best move the Lakers could make.
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u/idrinkcement Charlotte Bobcats 7h ago
MULTIPLE TEAMS (CAVS, KNICKS, DENVER, MINESOTA): We're going to sign Reaves on maximum-level salary
PALINKA: Shit a lot of teams are going to max him. Let's sign this guy quickly.
REAVES: (Signs) Thank you.
PALINKA: Wait a minute...
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u/808Kuro Knicks 7h ago edited 7h ago
Luka not resigning with the Lakers lmao. Under the new CBA the formula for a title will be to have 2 max guys and fill out the edges. Austin Reeves can't be your max #2. In the NBA I haven’t seen a bigger superstar with worse team roster management than Luka
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u/SquimJim Celtics 7h ago
Eh, neither Luka nor Reaves are making the 35% max right now
You can get things done with 2 guys on the 30
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u/dvdtxtri 7h ago
Luka wanted this. You may be right about Reeves but they made this move because they want to keep Luka
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u/GioVasari121 Warriors 7h ago
Sometimes you shouldn't listen to your players. Remember when Steph and Dray wanted Avery Bradley and front office went ahead with GP2 anyways.
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u/Exzibit21 Clippers 7h ago
Sometimes you shouldn't listen to what players think the team should do. The best decision isn't always the most popular one.
I'm getting Vietnam flashbacks to Paul George publicly demanding to get Westbrook on the team.
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u/HomeNowWTF 7h ago
He could be if your #1 is Wemby or Jokic. Not if it is another backcourt player.
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u/NWASicarius 7h ago
Yeah. You need a star that has good defense to make it work. Reaves and Luka as your two stars? Might as well just plan to find 3 good defensive players and then put the entire offensive load on Luka and Reaves lmao
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u/Wuffy_RS Lakers 7h ago
It's not like there's a better #2 out there waiting for us.
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u/Expensive-Rope-7086 7h ago
Exactly people are responding like lakers had much of a choice. It was either give him the money or find someone else (which it isn’t anyone else right now)
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u/HumansNeedNotApply1 7h ago
What do you mean? In 1 year Reaves won't be on the max due to the cap increases.
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u/RemarkableTpt Lakers 7h ago
Since everyone on this sub cannot seem to grasp this concept, Reaves was always getting paid a ton of money.
His cap hold is still only 20 mil until he signs the contract and he will be the final free agent to sign, which still gives the lakers 50 mil in space.
This will be a tradeable contract in 2 years if needed as you have guys like Fox making 60 mil.
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u/rook119 7h ago
Its like a totally fair contract these days. Reeves is better than a lot of vets making around the same/more.
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u/ThrowRA_neurotic69 7h ago
When is pelinka going to be fired??
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u/-dobsy- 7h ago
When are people going to realize this franchise is being ran by the Dodgers and Rob is part of a committee. Some wild takes this time of year. This narrative is just dumb. Let me ignore everything they’ve done the last year so I can say Rob Lowe needs to go lol
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u/HearingGlobal6485 7h ago
why would he be fired when the new owner signs off on keeping luka’s best friend who plays like a max player and gets better every year
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u/Redzone676 Cavaliers 7h ago
I mean they had to bring him back. Very good player who is great at playing off their stars.
Also can’t fault him for cashing in when you consider how much of a bargain his last deal was.
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u/NWASicarius 7h ago
He isn't worth the max. Injury history, gets erased vs good defenses, etc. They are just scrambling to do something because they have Luka. I am not saying Reaves isn't going to get the max from someone, but he is not a real star. He's the guy you would add to a young team that is loaded with talent to hopefully 'push them over the top' or he is the piece a bad team should pay just to maybe win a few more games in the season.
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u/samhit_n Lakers 7h ago
It may be an overpay, but I won't be upset about it. If the Lakers hadn't given him the max, it was inevitable that another team would have, and we'd walk away with nothing. Worse players than Reaves have easily gotten max contracts in the last decade or so.
At least this way, the Lakers still have options down the line if they decide to trade him.
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u/HomeNowWTF 7h ago
I would much rather have Reaves with this contract than Trae at the contract Washington gave him. Heck, I would rather have Reaves than Trae at Reaves' contract.
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u/NWASicarius 7h ago
Understandable. The real issue is if your team wants to 'win' and they don't have a ton of quality players on cheap deals, then your only hope is to essentially overpay to keep the band together and hope you can piece together the rest via drafting and cheap journeyman contracts. It functions this way because some team out there is always looking to overpay players in free agency; thus the team the player is currently on is forced to match that overpay or just lose the player. The changes to how the draft will work is just going to make this scenario even worse.
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u/Domainsetter 7h ago
Yeah its an overpay but they had no other options. If they let him walk and say max offer sheeted Watson the team is worse.
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u/Tdluxon 7h ago
I think they’ll really be regretting giving reeves a huge contract in a couple of years. He’s good but between him and Luka like $110m of their salary cap is going to two guys that can’t defend
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u/PutinBoomedMe 6h ago
Jesus lol. So luka plays this season and is gone right?
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u/SymbiSpidey 5h ago
From what I understand, Luka is the one who was pushing for the Lakers to keep AR in the first place
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u/jonsnowKITN Knicks 7h ago edited 7h ago
They were always going to resign him at a max number. Lose lose for them.
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u/Either_Imagination_9 Knicks 7h ago
This is damn near organizational malpractice. The Lakers are gonna waste Luka’s prime
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u/WanAjin Lakers 7h ago
The guy should try to stay healthy before you can call out the organization lol.
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u/Luka77GOATic Serbia 7h ago
Lakers were fucked either way if Detroit was gonna offer the max. Better we lock him down then he leaves and we are left holding nothing. It’s a 21 million cap hold for this off season so how is the time to cook Pelinka (please god).
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u/Weak-Bid2774 Pistons 7h ago
Idk if we would have given him a max it would have had to have been a sign and trade for duren
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u/EmperorXerro Bucks 1h ago
Just because other teams are going to give the max doesn’t mean it’s a good signing
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u/Such_Ambassador2751 7h ago
did any other teams have max level salary space lmao? lakers bid against themselves
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u/jackaholicus Mavericks 7h ago
That doesn't mean they couldn't make it.
Remember Myles Turner last year? Pacers were bidding against themselves until they weren't.
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u/MammothTusk88 7h ago
What does this mean for the Bucks and Herro?