For the first time in his NBA career, Austin Reaves is on a deal that actually reflects — or, comes close to it — his league-wide standing as a player. No longer is he on a two-way contract or four-year, $54 million deal, despite being among the Los Angeles Lakers’ top players and one of the NBA’s better guards. Now, he is rightfully beginning year one of a four-year, $184 million deal, which was agreed upon during the offseason
.While a larger payday may elevate the standard people set for Reaves’
performance, he isn’t worried about that sort of thing. He’s focused on winning games and how he can best help the Lakers do that, regardless of whatever box-score numbers he may produce in the process.
“It doesn’t really matter to me. In a sense, there has to be. I would assume that people would look at it that way, but at the end of the day, like, I got to go out there and play basketball and I’ve been playing basketball for 15 years now,” Reaves told ESPN LA radio at Media Day last week. “It’s the same thing I’ve done since I was a kid and I’m going to enjoy it the way that I’ve always enjoyed it. The main thing is winning. If you go out there and win, nobody really – if I have 15 points and we win, it’s better than me having 30 [points] and losing. So just figuring out how to win games and win games at the highest level is the main thing for me.”
It’s natural that expectations for Reaves’ game could raise now. But it’s also natural for Reaves to be unbothered by that outside noise. When not hampered by injury, he had a tremendous 2025-26 and showcased encouraging chemistry with Luka Dončić, especially offensively. If he stays healthy and keeps playing like that, the Lakers will win plenty of games, just as Reaves wants.
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