There seems to be some anxiety among Los Angeles Lakers fans about whether the team will end up not only keeping Austin Reaves, but also re-signing him to a new contract that makes sense. The rising star guard is expected to opt out of his contract and become a free agent later this month, and there have been reports indicating that he could command a ton of money on his next deal.
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Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times recently said that Reaves and his representation want a max contract, which, if given by the Lakers, would be for about $241 million over five years. Dan Woike of The Athletic also wrote that the Brooklyn Nets, Atlanta Hawks and Detroit Pistons could go after Reaves, which could drive up the price for the Lakers to keep the 28-year-old.
However, NBA insider Marc Stein downplayed the amount of interest Reaves could have from other teams and wrote in his Substack that the Lakers are "widely expected" to keep Reaves.
"The Lakers are widely expected to re-sign Reaves, whose fondness for Lakerland as well as his blossoming backcourt partnership alongside Luka Dončić are regarded as strong lures that suggest the sides will ultimately come to terms on a new pact," Stein wrote.
"Yet it is unclear what sort of external interest Reaves will generate after his strong production over the past two seasons … at least partly due to the inherent skepticism that stems from trying to woo him away from the Lakers. Brooklyn and Detroit have been mentioned as potential Reaves suitors, but neither is seen as a certainty yet.
"There have been recent rumbles, in fact, about the Nets potentially looking at shorter deals if they do decide to be aggressive in free agency. League sources say that the Pistons, meanwhile, are expected to focus on potential trade additions rather than free agent targets when it comes to bolstering their shooting so as not to further complicate tricky looming contract extension negotiations with restricted free agent-to-be Jalen Duren and Ausar Thompson, who will be rookie scale contract extension eligible from July 6 until the eve of Opening Night in October."
Reaves has previously made it clear that he wants to stay with the Lakers, and the Lakers have reportedly made keeping him a priority. In fact, one team source downplayed the concerns about the lack of defense that a pairing of Reaves and Luka Doncic would present.
This season, Reaves averaged 23.3 points on 49% field-goal shooting and 36% 3-point shooting, 4.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists a game. Los Angeles will badly need his scoring, ball-handling, facilitating and ability to get to the free throw line once LeBron James leaves, whether that happens this summer or later on.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Insider: Lakers 'widely expected' to keep Austin Reaves