Lakers president Rob Pelinka will have tough decision to make on Austin Reaves
A fter underpaying breakout star Austin Reaves for the past several years, the Los Angeles Lakers will have to pay him starting-level money at the minimum in his next contract to keep him.
Reaves is eligible to sign a maximum of a four-year, $89.2 million contract this summer, which is already a huge raise from his current four-year, $54 million deal. But even that maximum extension the Lakers can offer is below his market value after blossoming into their third star behind LeBron James and Luka Dončić
The undrafted Reaves will seek more than what the Lakers can offer this summer, according to Bleacher Report's salary cap expert Eric Pincus.
"Reaves is nearly sure to decline his $14.9 million player option for the 2026-27 season to explore unrestricted free agency next summer, seeking a salary in the $30 million starting range. The most he can extend for ($19.5 million) is far short of that number," Pincus wrote.
If Reaves remains with the Lakers with a four-year, $120-130 million deal after next season, that contract will still be considered a bargain. Reaves, 26, is entering the prime of his career and has been playing better than the current players who will earn in that range.
The list of current NBA players who will earn in the $30 to $35 million salary range in the 2026-27 season, per Hoopshype, is the following:
According to ESPN's front office insider Bobby Marks, Reaves will be eligible to sign "a contract worth up to 25% of the salary cap" of the Lakers or any team with cap space in the summer of 2026. Marks added that Reaves' first-year starting salary in that max contract would be a whopping $42.5 million, which is star-level money.
If James decides to continue playing at 42, the Lakers would have to commit around 80% of their cap room to their top three players, which would limit their roster-building tools.
With Reaves about to get expensive, The Ringer's Bill Simmons believes the Lakers' homegrown star has played his last game in the purple and gold jersey.
"When Reaves gets traded this summer -- and he WILL get traded - the stuff they [Lakers] get back for him is gonna make it seem worse that they [Mavericks] didn't get him in the trade," Simmons said on "The Bill Simmons Podcast" on May 11.
However, while Reaves isn't untouchable, Los Angeles Times' Dan Woike reported that Reaves will only get traded on one condition.
"[Reaves] is not viewed as "untradeable" because almost no one in the NBA is untradeable. But if the Lakers are going to trade him for a center, they're going to want one that is foundationally important -- a build-around type and not a fill-in toward the obvious need they have at center (and will need to address in other ways).
"If one of the best centers in the NBA were available, the conversations might be different, but at least now, during the first part of the offseason, that just isn't the case," Woike wrote in his LA Times' Lakers newsletter on Thursday.
Rob Pelinka, the Lakers' president and general manager, weighed heavily on the implication of acquiring Dončić from the Dallas Mavericks for Reaves' continued growth. But he concluded that adding another ball-dominant guard in the backcourt would not stunt Reaves, but instead, they would find a way to make it work.
"You bet on the fact that he plays the game the right way, his teammates love to play with him," Pelinka told NBA.com. "You bet on the fact that he's an ultimate competitor, on the fact that he absolutely loves basketball and wants to get better all the time. I don't even like to put a ceiling on a player like that, just let his journey be what his journey is."
Reaves continued his stellar play even after Dončić's arrival.
The Lakers' homegrown star finished the season, averaging a career-best 20.2 points on 46% overall shooting and 37.7% from the 3-point line, 4.8 assists against 2.2 turnovers in the regular season.
However, his numbers dipped to 16.2 points, on 41.1% overall shooting and 31.9% from the 3-point arc, 3.6 assists against 2.8 turnovers in the playoffs, raising questions whether he's a viable No. 3 option on a championship team.