The Los Angeles Lakers chose to overhaul their roster this offseason, parting ways with almost all their free agents and welcoming quite a few new faces. One player the Lakers did choose to keep was Austin Reaves, and during an appearance on the Dan Patrick Show, he was asked what he was told about the team’s future before he agreed to re-sign.
“I had a lot of talks with Rob [Pelinka],” Reaves said. “I’m really close with Luka [Doncic] and JJ [Redick] as well. And we’re just building something that can be sustainable for not just now, but the future. I seen something the other day that I’m the oldest guy on the team, and I’m 28. So it’s actually crazy to me. But yeah, I mean, we want to have success now and five or six, seven years in the future.”
There was a point when Reaves was set to be the oldest player on the Lakers next season at just 28 years old, but not anymore. They have agreed on a one-year veteran minimum deal with Kevon Looney, and he’ll be the one with that tag. Looney is only 30 years old, though, which is still young for someone who is the oldest on the team.
The Lakers appear to have made a concentrated effort to get younger. They were reportedly comfortable letting 41-year-old LeBron James leave in free agency. The Lakers also didn’t appear to have made much of an effort to keep hold of important role players like 32-year-old Marcus Smart and 30-year-old Luke Kennard. They then followed that up by bringing in quite a few younger players.
Walker Kessler, Quentin Grimes, Sandro Mamukelashvili, and Collin Sexton are the big additions, and they are all 27 or younger. Kessler, Grimes, and Mamukelashvili got four-year contracts, as did Reaves. There was a clear attempt to match the timelines.
Reaves got the biggest deal of them all, with the Lakers agreeing to a four-year, $185 million contract. It’s a huge investment. Reaves had a $14.9 million player option that he was set to decline to hit free agency. Before he could hit the open market, though, the Lakers secured his services. Reaves is glad that’s how things transpired.
“The one thing that the Lakers had the advantage on was being able to talk to me as soon as the season was over,” Reaves said. “And July 1st was when everybody else could come in. So it was crazy, but it was good that the Lakers had that opportunity to get something done, so I didn’t have to actually hit the market.”
Handing Reaves that contract and the lengths they went to for Kessler did mean, though, that the Lakers don’t have much flexibility going forward. The Utah Jazz got two first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps from them for the big man. The Lakers also gave Kessler a four-year, $130 million contract as part of the sign-and-trade.
The Lakers are basically banking on the trio of Reaves, Kessler, and Luka Doncic being good enough for them to have success right now and years down the road. They should win a lot of regular-season games, but you do wonder if they can go all the way and win it all.
