The NBA Finals is officially over which means all eyes now turn to the draft and the free agent market. For the Los Angeles Lakers, that means having to navigate Austin Reaves’ pending free agency.
The All-Star caliber guard is coming off the best season of his career, albeit dealing with a couple of injury issues, and he is expected to draw interest from rival teams. One team in particular that has been reported as legitimate threat to steal Austin Reaves away from the Lakers via free agency is the Brooklyn Nets.
In addition to the Nets, teams such as the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks have been mentioned as teams with reported interest in Reaves. However, those teams would have to clear salary cap space in order to make room for what’s expected to be a max contract offer for the incoming six-year veteran.
But with other teams seemingly ready to pounce once the free agency period begins, the Lakers cannot afford to let Reaves slip through their grasp.
Lakers must keep Austin Reaves in free agency
Austin Reaves is one of, if not the greatest success story in recent history for the Lakers. Undrafted in the 2021 NBA Draft, Reaves began his career on a two-way contract. That was converted to standard deal before his rookie season began, and the rest is history.
The former Wichita State and Oklahoma standout has become one of the top guards in the league and would have been named to his first All-Star selection if not for a calf injury he sustained during the first half of the season. During his first couple of seasons in the NBA, he juggled coming off the bench and starting, but once head coach JJ Redick took the helm, he was a permanent fixture as a lead guard.
There is one simple reason why the Lakers need to keep Reaves at all costs this summer, and that’s Luka Doncic. The team’s franchise player of the future enjoys playing with his current backcourt mate, and he reportedly let it be known that he did not want Reaves included in any potential trade when the Lakers purportedly were feeling out trade interest for Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo.
One of the obvious questions that’s come up is whether or not a Doncic-Reaves pairing can be a championship caliber backcourt in the Lakers’ pursuit of a title. But when both players have been healthy, the Lakers have been a winning team. Albeit being an elite ball-handler and shifty scorer, Reaves has shown the ability to play alongside Doncic and still find success.
Now obviously there will have to be shuffling within the lineup to properly build around a Doncic-Reaves backcourt. But it can be done. It’s a similar dynamic to the Doncic-Kyrie Irving backcourt that took the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals.
Keeping your star players happy is crucial to building a contending team. And if Doncic wants Reaves to stay in LA, the Lakers need to ensure that happens.
The other major reason the Lakers need to avoid another team, such as the Nets, from grabbing Reaves, is you need to keep your homegrown talent. The Lakers’ staff has invested time and energy into his development and it’s paid off. If he’s allowed to leave, who is the team going to get to replace him?
If Reaves ends up signing elsewhere, the Lakers are going to have a gaping hole in their backcourt. It’s not easy replacing a 23.3 points per game scorer. It’s even harder to replace a player that was developed and brought up within your own system as a rookie.
Reaves has been an efficient scorer as well throughout his career, shooting over 48 percent from the field and 36 percent from the 3-point line. That matters. And he’s good enough for 5-6 assists per game as well.
Simply put, for a Lakers team yearning to get back to legitimacy and the upper echelon of the NBA, losing their top free agent would be a PR disaster they can’t afford right now. Austin Reaves must be in a Lakers uniform come the 2026-27 season.
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