Austin Reaves has been a surprising revelation for the Los Angeles Lakers this season. He joined the squad in 2021 after nobody drafted him in the NBA Draft 2021. He came to the current season as his second year in NBA. But during the mid-season, AR caught the media’s and the fans’ attention for his consistency. The spotlight was on him when the Lakers were going through a tough time. Apparently, Reaves appeared on the stage as a big help to Anthony Davis. Later, they led the team to the conference finals.
Despite how tragically it ended for the Los Angeles Lakers, nobody can deny the miraculous turnaround of the side that shocked the NBA this season. Austin Reaves was a significant discovery this season. Needless to say, he is an emerging superstar. It is clear that AR loves the Lakers and want to be the leader of the team someday.
Austin Reaves Wants To Lead The Lakers In The Future
After such a mesmerizing performance from Austin Reaces, the Los Angeles Lakers would definitely like to keep him in the offseason. He will be a restricted free agent. Hence many teams will try to approach him. But Austin Reaves mentioned that he had been a big Lakers and Kobe Bryant fan while he was growing up. So, he wants to stay with the Lakers forever. AR has built a strong rapport with the Lakers franchise in these couple of years. Clearly, Jeanie Buss, the Lakers owner, and Rob Pelinka, General Manager, hope to build a future team centering around Austin Reaves. Even he wants to stick around and take the place of the Lakers leader after LeBron James and Anthony Davis are gone.
Recently in an interview, Austin Reaves spoke about what kind of a leader he wishes to be. As he stated, “I’ll never scream at anybody, but I’ll pull someone aside and talk to them about what I see, and they see.” Reaves believes that he has a high basketball IQ and likes to trust that. On top of that, LeBron James and Anthony Davis are the guys who are more vocal than him at present. But he likes to work on that as well. Austin Reaves feels that he can get more vocal with AD and the King around.
How Can The Lakers Keep AR On Their Roster?
It is nice to see that the trajectory of the young Lakers is upward. However, it will be tricky for the front office actually to hold him off. Reportedly, teams like Orlando Magic, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio Spurs have bigger cap space than the Los Angeles Lakers. They can offer Austin Reaves a 90 million dollar contract over four years. On the other hand, the Lakers can only offer him $50 million over four years due to the comparatively shorter cap space.
However, there are a lot of complications because of the team’s cap space. Due to the presence of LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers don’t have huge cap space. But there are a few players in the Laker’s roster too special to let go in the offseason. For instance, the new fan favorite is AR from the Oklahoma Sooners. How are the Lakers planning to keep him?
