One NBA team executive is expecting Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves to earn a significant raise on his next contract.
“I think he will get $30 [million] plus,” the exec told ESPN’s Tim Bontemps.
Bontemps added that the official was “echoing multiple front office sources who were asked about the next deal Reaves could command.”
The NBA insider reported the expectation for now is that the 27-year-old will stay with the Lakers. He can opt out next summer and will presumably choose that path when his player option is only worth $14.9 million.
Still, Reaves’ future in purple and gold isn’t totally assured.
“This is a big season for him,” one assistant coach from a Western Conference team said said. “He’d better bring it in the playoffs, because he’s got to be good enough [to pair with Luka Dončić].”
The Lakers are still haunted somewhat by their decision to let Alex Caruso walk as a free agent in 2021. Caruso becoming the final piece of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s championship puzzle only renewed the conversations about what could’ve been if L.A. had been more aggressive toward retaining him.
The 2024-25 campaign was almost a worst-case scenario in terms of gauging Reaves’ value to the Lakers.
During the regular season, he averaged career highs in points (20.2) and assists (5.8). In the first round against the Minnesota Timberwolves, though, he shot just 31.9 percent from three-point range, while Los Angeles had a minus-10.1 net rating with him on the court, per NBA.com.
The Lakers would have an obvious void in their frontcourt if Reaves were to depart, but his performance in the 2025 postseason wasn’t what you want to see from a player potentially earning $30 million or more per year.
Maybe Reaves will make this easy for Los Angeles by putting together another strong year in 2025-26 and then carrying that over to the playoffs.
