Getty Austin Reaves (right) of the Lakers is a restricted free agent this summer.
One of the parlor games that has been running through the NBA in recent weeks could be called something like, “Who’s Gonna Stick it to the Lakers?”
It goes like this: L.A. has gone to great lengths to let it be known that the team will match any offer opposing teams put out for second-year guard Austin Reaves, who blossomed as last season went on, especially after he came back from a hamstring injury in February. In his final 27 games, Reaves averaged 16.5 points and 5.0 assists, shooting 45.6% from the 3-point line.
To show that was no fluke, Reaves was just as good in the playoffs, starting all 16 games and averaging 16.9 points, 4.6 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 44.3% 3-point shooting. He topped 20 points seven times in the postseason.
Because of NBA rules, though, the Lakers are not free to sign Reaves for any contract they wish. They can give Reaves a four-year contract starting at $12.4 million, totaling in the range of $53 million. But it gets more complicated if Reaves can attract an offer on the open market.
There aren’t many teams with the cap space to make re-signing Reaves difficult on the Lakers. But there is one, and it’s one of L.A.’s deepest Western Conference rivals.
NBA Rules Limit Offers Reaves Can Receive
As a restricted free agent, Reaves is free to get an offer from another team, but that deal would have to start at $12.4 million, too, for the first two seasons. This is because of what’s known as the Gilbert Arenas rule, and applies to non-first round picks.
After those two years, though, the new team could offer Reaves a deal for up to the maximum, projected to be about $36 million per year. The total max deal would be four years and $98 million, but would have the odd construction of going from $26 million total in the first two years to $35 million and $37 million in the final two years.
The Lakers are letting it be known that, even in that scenario, they will match offers for Reaves, who was signed as an undrafted two years ago. The team will have a heavy salary slot to carry in 2025-26 and 2026-27, but the outlook seems to be that they will cross that bridge when it comes.
But the Lakers can’t offer Reaves $98 million over four years. Only another team can do that, and whatever team does it will need about $25 million in cap space available—for the team making the offer, the cap hit is based on the per-year average of the deal, not the low-end first season.
“So someone is going to go through this exercise of signing Austin to this four-year deal just so that the Lakers have to match it and put themselves in a tricky position in two years,” one NBA GM said. “I think there are a lot of teams that would like to do that—who does not want to screw the Lakers when you have the chance? But if you really think there is no chance they do not match, it’s an exercise in futility.
“You definitely do not want to be in a position where focusing on making an offer to (Reaves) to hurt the Lakers is also going to hurt what you’re trying to do yourselves. Everybody can walk and chew gum at the same time, but still …”
Jazz, Spurs Could Be the Reaves Contract Culprits
There are not all that many teams with enough cap space to make Reaves an offer near $100 million, so that limits the candidate list of teams that could effectively “screw the Lakers.” Several of the teams with space figure to be focused on adding their own players rather than driving up the price for future Lakers. That leaves open the possibility that Reaves just accepts a short-term Lakers midlevel offer and awaits a big payday in 2024 or 2025.
The Rockets are, according to reporter Marc Stein, prepared to sign free-agents Fred VanVleet and Dillon Brooks, which would pull them out of the Reaves market. The Jazz are likely out, too, with the trade for John Collins. The Pistons could go after Reaves, but they’re also are interested in Nets restricted free agent Cam Johnson and other players who could fast track their rebuilding.
That leaves a short list—even if a team offered Reaves something less than the max in the final two seasons of the four-year contract, there just are not many teams entering free agency with cap space. The Pacers and Magic are teams that could pursue Reaves, even with the knowledge the Lakers will match an offer. Indiana did make an offer to restricted free agent Deandre Ayton last summer, though it was known that the Suns would match.
Both of those teams are likely to have other priorities, though.
The Jazz could make an offer to Reaves, even if it is less than the max. They would have some incentive—Utah owns the Lakers’ 2027 first-rounder, so the more difficult they can make things on the Lakers, the more that pick could pay off in four years.
There is one other team with significant cap space on hand, though, one that could use a player of Reaves’ age and skillset, and one with a historical beef against the Lakers: the Spurs. If no earnest offers for Reaves come from teams with cap space, the Spurs could always insert themselves.
“You don’t hear a lot of teams saying they’re planning on getting Reaves,” one Western Conference executive said. “Because everyone knows you’re not going to get him. But the Spurs might be the one team that would take that risk because they know that the worst that can happen is they kind of monkey with and mess up the Lakers’ plans. And that’s still a W for them.”
Yes, San Antonio, led by coach and honcho Gregg Popovich, whose distaste for the Lakers was said to be among the reasons the Spurs traded star Kawhi Leonard to Toronto in 2018, rather than to L.A. The Spurs have cap space but are not necessarily going to use it to pursue free agents—they could seek to use their space to offer other teams salary relief, while racking up draft picks and other assets in the process.
There are not a lot of candidates to make Reaves a big offer. But the Spurs figure to be the most likely choice.