One of, if not the most important free agency decision for the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason is what to do with Austin Reaves. After being underpaid for years, Reaves is set to cash in with a contract that could exceed $40 million annually.
Both the Lakers and Reaves himself have spoken about the desire to have him remain in purple and gold, but there are sure to be teams interested in signing him away this summer. There are only a couple of teams who have the necessary salary cap space to do so, but according to Dan Woike of The Athletic, the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks are among a group of teams who could create some cap space in order sign Reaves, while the Brooklyn Nets could be preparing a max offer:
Multiple front-office sources around the league, granted anonymity to freely discuss an opposing player, expect Reaves to have interest from the Brooklyn Nets, with a four-year, $178.5 million contract expected to be offered. League sources said the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks are among a group of interested teams that can create space to make competitive offers. Other teams could also emerge.
The Nets are known to be interested in Reaves and are one of those teams that already has cap space, but also are far away from being a playoff team. The Pistons and Hawks, however, already have strong foundations in place and Reaves would be an ideal addition for both. That especially goes for the Pistons who had the best record in the East, but saw their offensive struggles exposed in the playoffs with little creation alongside Cade Cunningham.
The Lakers remain the favorites to sign Reaves as they can offer him the most money along with his close relationships with Luka Doncic and LeBron James. The question has always been just how much they are willing to pay him and this interest from other teams is sure to raise his price.
The Lakers can ill-afford to lose Reaves for nothing this summer and doing so would undoubtedly not sit well with Doncic, so the front office will have to come together and do whatever they have to in order to keep him with the franchise going forward.
Danny Green believes Austin Reaves deserves max contract
A max contract for Reaves with the Lakers would start at $47.8 million per year for five years and former Lakers guard Danny Green believes he is deserving of that deal.
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