One thing has been abundantly clear about Austin Reaves’ time with the Lakers: he loves Los Angeles.
He hasn’t exactly made it a secret that he wants to remain in LA. Every time he’s asked about free agency, he tries to take a stab at a diplomatic response, but somewhere along the way, he’ll make it known he loves being a Laker.
In 2023, he said he wanted to be a Laker his whole career ahead of free agency. In the summer of 2025, he said he wanted to be a Laker for life. After turning down an extension
from the Lakers last offseason, he spoke about how hard that was but, again, stated he wanted to remain a Laker. And at President of Basketball Operation’s Rob Pelinka’s exit interview this spring, he reiterated that Austin had made it clear he wanted to remain with the franchise.
For fans who want to see him back, this is all great news. For Austin’s agents, it’s probably pretty awful!
All these comments haven’t exactly given Austin an edge in negotiations. If the Lakers know he badly wants to be in LA, how much are they going to leverage that in their contract offer?
It probably shouldn’t be a surprise, then, to see them trying to shift the narrative back around. On Thursday, Brad Turner of the LA Times appeared on Spectrum SportsNet and spoke about Austin’s impending free agency, revealing that he wants a max deal.
Here’s a transcript of what Turner said for those without Twitter/X:
“He stands to make five years, $241 million, that’s from the Lakers if they offer him that deal. Or if he goes to a team like Chicago or a team like Brooklyn, he can get four years, $178 [million]. Those teams will kind of lurk around. Based on what I understand, what I keep hearing, Austin wants the max. Is he willing to give the Lakers a hometown deal? I’m not so sure about that. Maybe he does, but maybe he reps don’t want to.”
The end of this quote pretty accurately lays things out and shows where things stand. If it were up to Austin, it’d be much more likely that a hometown discount is on the table. But Austin’s agents are trying to do what’s best for him financially.
Given how things will shake out and the mechanisms of the CBA, it’s ultimately not really going to matter for the Lakers’ free agency plans what type of deal Austin takes. His cap hold is going to be so low relative to the deal he’s going to get that his deal is likely going to be one of the last things the team does in the order of operations this summer.
The only difference in his deal is how close it brings the Lakers to the second apron and how much money Mark Walter will have to fork over. The Lakers shouldn’t end up all that close to the second apron, so it’s only going to be the second part that matters all that much.
And if that’s the case, here’s to Austin getting as big a pay day as he deserves…and much bigger than the one he’s been angling for.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.
