Coming off a career season with the Los Angeles Lakers, Austin Reaves had a seemingly easy decision to make going into this offseason. The final year of Reaves’ contract is a player option worth around $14.9 million for 2026-27.
Reaves has obviously greatly outplayed that number, so according to Shams Charania of ESPN, the guard is unsurprisingly declining that player option and will re-sign with the Lakers on a four-year maximum contract:
Los Angeles Lakers star Austin Reaves intends to sign a four-year, $185 million maximum contract to return to the franchise, with a player option for the final season in 2029-30, sources tell ESPN. Reaves declined his $14.9M player option for the new max deal. pic.twitter.com/5T8Ze6v0kF
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 24, 2026
The Lakers and Reaves' agents, Aaron Reilly and Reggie Berry of AMR Agency, worked through discussions over the last 10 days after teams were able to negotiate with their own free agents. Reaves lands the richest contract for an undrafted player in NBA history. https://t.co/AZ5pKkRI5u
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 24, 2026
This was the expected outcome the whole time, so no one should be caught off guard by it. Reaves could have re-signed for five years but opted for four, which is the most he could’ve gotten from another team. He did sign for the maximum with an average annual value of over $46 million though, which could limit the team’s flexibility in future years.
The Lakers made it clear that they wanted Reaves back, and that interest was clearly mutual. Even Luka Doncic had expressed to the organization that he wanted to keep playing with Reaves moving forward as the two have grown very close.
If the Lakers were going to lock up Reaves, it was not going to come cheap as he is coming off a career year. The Lakers will benefit from having Reaves’ bird rights as he will be on the books for a $20.9 million cap hold. That will allow the team to use their cap space to improve other parts of the roster before circling back to Reaves and going over the cap to re-sign him.
LeBron James has enjoyed witnessing growth of Austin Reaves
One person who has been there every step of the way for Reaves’ NBA journey is LeBron James. The two have grown close over the last five years, and James spoke about how much he has enjoyed getting to watch Reaves’ growth as a player and person.
“Just seeing AR grow over, what, five years? It’s been nothing short of amazing,” James said following the conclusion of the Lakers’ season. “He’s a hard worker, loves the game, he wants to get better and he’s not afraid of constructive criticism. I kind of knew that from the beginning.
“I saw the talent but I also saw he was willing to put the work in and wasn’t afraid of the moment. To see where he is today is awesome. I knew he could be a big-time player for our ballclub if he just got the opportunity and if gained confidence in himself to know he belonged in this league, then he could do some special things in this league. He’s obviously shown it.”
The question now becomes if Reaves and James will continue playing together in the purple and gold or if one or both will be suiting up elsewhere next season.
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