The Los Angeles Lakers have a host of players hitting free agency this summer, and Austin Reaves will most probably be among them. Reaves is widely expected to opt out of his $14.9 million player option for 2026-27 to become an unrestricted free agent.
A return to the Lakers remains the likeliest outcome at this point, but The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Dan Woike report that a couple of teams will be looking to bring Reaves in.
“While team and league sources believe that the Lakers and Reaves will eventually land on a contract that makes sense, the door for Reaves to walk is open should he get a big offer elsewhere. Rival executives predicted Reaves could command $40 million a season due to a combination of his play, his age and, perhaps most importantly, a free-agent class completely devoid of players as productive as him in their prime.
“At present, the Chicago Bulls and Brooklyn Nets, who both have needs at the guard position, are the only teams with the sort of salary-cap space available to meet that sort of financial mark. Other teams that are known to have some interest in Reaves — like Utah and Atlanta, per league sources — would need to make roster moves to find the necessary space.”
The Chicago Bulls and Brooklyn Nets will have cap space and need guards, but it’s unclear whether they have an interest in Reaves specifically. The Utah Jazz and the Atlanta Hawks do, but they’ll need to make some moves first.
It was previously reported that the Jazz would show strong interest in Reaves in the summer. They then made it trickier for themselves to bring in the 27-year-old by acquiring Jaren Jackson Jr., who will make $49 million in 2026-27, from the Memphis Grizzlies on Feb. 3. The door isn’t closed yet for the Jazz, but it will take some maneuvering.
We ranked the five options presented here for Reaves, and staying with the Lakers is the best one. That report stated that winning will be a significant factor in his thinking, and they are the obvious pick if that is the case. The Hawks were the only team in that group of four to make the playoffs this season and were knocked out in the first round.
The Lakers can also offer Reaves, whom they signed as an undrafted free agent in 2022, a bigger contract than anyone else. The max he can get from them is a five-year, $241 million deal, while other teams can only offer four years and about $178 million.
If we go by this report, Reaves isn’t getting the max from anyone. He seemed to be building a case for it at the start of the 2025-26 campaign, but couldn’t quite keep it up for one reason or another.
Reaves ended up averaging 23.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game in the regular season. He then had a couple of rough outings as the Oklahoma City Thunder swept the Lakers in the Western Conference Semifinals.
That dropped Reaves’ stock just a bit more, but he’d still be one of the better options on the market. He showed this season that he can be a reliable second option on offense.
While the postseason struggles are concerning, Reaves was up against the best defensive team in the NBA. He had also just returned from a Grade 2 left oblique strain, and might not have been fully healthy yet.
Reaves isn’t perfect by any means, with the defensive struggles being his biggest flaw, but there is a lot to like here. He is set for a big payday one way or another and deservedly so.
