Austin Reaves is one of the big conversation topics surrounding the Los Angeles Lakers heading into the summer. He is extension-eligible this offseason but is widely expected to turn down L.A.’s max offer of four years, $89.2 million in favor of a bigger payday next summer. However, he has made it clear that his plan is to be a Laker for life.
Reaves said this both in reference to the extension talks and some of the rumors floating around that he could be traded this offseason if the team feels they need to in order to build a championship roster around Luka Doncic.
He spoke with us about why he wants to be a Laker for life and what the organization and fans have meant to him.
“I grew up a Lakers fan, I was a huge Kobe fan and for the Lakers to be the first team that I was involved with on the two-way and then the contract, it’s kind of just the story,” Reaves said in an exclusive interview with Lakers Nation’s Trevor Lane. “And fans in L.A. have treated me great ever since Day 1. It feels like a second home to me.
“I’ll be on the road and be like ‘I can’t wait to go home,’ and people are like ‘You want to go to Arkansas?’ And I’m like ‘No, I want to go to L.A. I was talking about L.A., I want to go to Arkansas too.’ But yeah, L.A. feels like home to me. I feel like we are right there to creating something special, and I want to win a championship more than anything. Especially with that organization. So yeah, I want to be there.”
Reaves was then asked about his extension talks, but the Lakers guard said it hasn’t been on the forefront of his mind.
“I haven’t, no,” Reaves admitted when asked if he has thought about the possibility. “I try to live every day as a single, lone day. I really don’t think too far ahead or dwell on the past too much, I kind of just try to live my life every single moment. But like I said, I want to be in L.A., I tell everybody that. My family loves it there, the organization treats them great, so we’re very grateful to be in L.A.”
If it works out for Reaves to be a Laker for life, that would be incredible in the modern NBA. Reaves, Doncic and LeBron James certainly seem to have an off-court chemistry together, and perhaps more time is needed to figure out their on-court chemistry.
But, at least for now, it seems Reaves’ plan is to be a Laker as long as they’ll keep him.
Austin Reaves discusses fit with Luka Doncic
Austin Reaves is certainly a believer in his pairing with Doncic in the Lakers’ backcourt and feels they can create a lot of chaos on offense for the opposition while also holding their own defensively.
“I think it brings so much chaos offensively because you got two guys, you know obviously I’m not putting myself in Luka’s category because he’s top three player in the NBA,” Reaves said. “But it brings two guys in the 1-2 spot, then obviously you have Bron too, that are willing passers, that can create chaos on defense. So therefore, I think it’s gonna be tough for teams to stay in front of us, I feel like we can get good looks every possession. And then defensively, we just have to lock down and just be with it mentally every possession. Right after the trade I think for like a month or two months, we had a top five defense in the NBA so we’ve shown that we can do that we just have to continue to grow in our schemes and how we wanna do that and be smart with all that.”
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