"I want to be here"- Austin Reaves wants to remain a Laker after his stunning season
After coming off a stellar second season with the LA Lakers, Austin Reaves is expected to receive a massive payday in restricted free agency this summer. The most the Lakers can offer Reaves is around a four-year, $50 million deal.
However, Reaves could sign a much larger offer sheet from a rival team. If Reaves does so, the Lakers would then have a chance to match the offer sheet to retain him, which they are expected to do.
During his end-of-season exit interview, Reaves was asked about his future, to which he said that he would like to remain in LA long-term.
“I want to be here,” Reaves said.
“This feels like home to me, in a sense. Obviously, it’s a lot different than my actual home. It’s a little bigger, (has) a lot more people (and) worse traffic. But, I told somebody a couple of months ago it feels like a home for me. The way the fans support me, the players, (the) coaching staff, front office, this is definitely somewhere I want to be. But, we’ll see what happens,” he added.
“I want to be here. This feels like home to me in a sense.” Austin Reaves makes it clear where he wants to sign this off-season. https://t.co/gicvDkYCT0
Reaves was also asked how he will spend the money from his new contract. He said that he will use it to get a golf course membership and help out his family.
“I will have a membership at a golf course and that’s probably it, honestly,” Reaves said.
“I’m not really into cars, fashion. Whatever my family needs, I’ll get. Family is No. 1, golf a very close second,” he added.
LA Lakers determined to keep Austin Reaves in free agency
According to multiple reports, the LA Lakers will do everything they can to retain Austin Reaves this summer.
NBA Insider Marc Stein recently reported in his substack that he doesn’t envision any scenario in which the Lakers don’t re-sign Reaves:
“There is frankly no scenario, based on what I know, that Reaves won't be a Laker next season," Stein reported.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst echoed a similar sentiment, saying that LA will not let its third-best player leave in free agency:
“There's no way they're letting him walk,” Windhorst said.
“Because they absolutely had egg dripping from their chin on letting Alex Caruso walk. And Reaves, let's just be honest, he's their third-best player.”
Austin Reaves averaged 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game on 52.9% shooting over 64 regular season games.
Reaves then upped his averages to 16.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg and 4.6 apg on 46.4% shooting over 16 playoff games.