The Los Angeles Lakers appear to have the inside track on retaining Austin Reaves this offseason, but they won’t be the only game in town.
Reaves is going to opt out of his contract and become a free agent, at which point he can field offers from any of the league’s 30 teams for up to five years and $241 million total. One squad that represents a particular threat to Reaves’ future in L.A. is the Chicago Bulls.
“Reaves could command $40 million a season due to a combination of his play, his age and, perhaps most importantly, a free-agent class completely devoid of players as productive as him in their prime,” Dan Woike and Sam Amick of The Athletic wrote Tuesday, May 12. “At present, the Chicago Bulls and Brooklyn Nets, who both have needs at the guard position, are the only teams with the sort of salary-cap space available to meet that sort of financial mark.”
Woike and Amick also mentioned the Atlanta Hawks, a rising playoff team this postseason, and the Utah Jazz, positioned to jump into the contention mix in the West as early as next year, as potential landing spots for Reaves if they engage in personnel shakeups necessary to clear the space to bring him in.
Bulls Can Offer Reaves Leading Offensive Role, Young Talent as Early as Next Season
GettyAustin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Chicago is an intriguing fit for Reaves for a variety of reasons.
First of all, if they offer him $200 million across a five-year span and Los Angeles doesn’t match it, Reaves has the financial incentive to make the jump. L.A. and Chicago are very different cities, but they have one primary element in common: they are each among the league’s top three markets (Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, behind New York) and offer similar advantages as such.
Reaves would slot in alongside point guard Josh Giddey and create a backcourt of dual-threat playmakers, just like the one he has with the Lakers next to Luka Doncic. However, Reaves would become the primary scoring option ahead of Giddey, while he will play second-fiddle to the superstar Doncic for as long as they are a team.
The Bulls could sell Reaves on upwards of 20 shots per game, up from the 14.9 heaves (a career high) he took last season behind Doncic, the NBA’s leading scorer (33.5 points per game) who also led the league in field goal attempts (22.8) for the fourth time in his eight-year career. Giddey attempted 13.3 shots nightly in 2025-26.
Chicago also has the Nos. 4 and 15 picks in the first round of this summer’s draft, reputed to be perhaps the most talented in decades. Most mocks have either Cameron Boozer of Duke or Caleb Wilson of North Carolina falling to the Bulls. Both are elite forwards with projected floors that include All-Star potential.
The Bulls just hired rising executive Bryson Graham as their new GM and have upwards of $60 million in salary cap space, which means the team could add Reaves and another quality free agent alongside major rookie talent.
Luka Doncic Wants Austin Reaves Back With Lakers Longterm
GettyLuka Doncic and Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Lakers’ top two advantages with regards to bringing Reaves back are his tight relationship with Doncic as well as the city/market/location of Los Angeles itself.
Doncic has been adamant that he wants Reaves to return as the Robin to his Batman in the backcourt, functioning in the same role as Kyrie Irving did in Dallas and Jalen Brunson before him. Those Mavericks teams each appeared in the Western Conference Finals, while the Doncic-Irving pairing made the NBA Finals.
“Doncic has made it clear to the Lakers that he would like to continue playing with Reaves, according to league sources,” Woike and Amick wrote. “Beyond their close friendship, Doncic believes in Reaves as a long-term piece next to him.”
But there are arguments that the team could find a more apt fit next to Doncic with the $52.6 million about to come off the books in the form of LeBron James‘ expiring contract. If the Bulls come to Reaves with a monster offer, perhaps even something exceeding $40 million annually, there is a chance Chicago could outbid Los Angeles and steal its No. 2 star.
Lakers Could Lose Austin Reaves to Big-Market Team in East: Report