The top priority for the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason was making sure they retained guard Austin Reaves, who exploded down the stretch of last season and during the playoffs. Reaves was a restricted free agent and could match any offer he received, but there were a couple of teams rumored to be extremely interested with the San Antonio Spurs being at the top of that list.
With top overall pick Victor Wembenyama on board, the Spurs want to surround him with players who could enhance and elevate the generational prospect and Reaves fit the bill. Additionally, the Spurs could’ve offered Reaves much more than the Lakers could have in free agency, though the Lakers still could have, and by all accounts would have, matched the offer.
It was impossible to ignore the rumors and in an appearance on The Lowe Post podcast with ESPN’s Zach Lowe, Reaves admitted he thought about the idea of joining the Spurs but always wanted to remain with the Lakers:
“It definitely creeps into your mind obviously when there’s a little bit of talks back and forth about something possibly coming to light. But I didn’t think that there was any way that the Lakers didn’t match whatever was offered. They pretty much made it pretty clear that they were gonna match whatever. You think about it a little bit but at the end of the day I wanted to be in L.A. I love it out here, love the organization, the fans. You hear things and obviously with Wembenyama there’s so much upside with him your mind kinda wanders just into that basketball world and what that would be like.”
Obviously Reaves got his wish, but many were surprised that the Spurs didn’t even make an offer and force the Lakers to match as that would have compromised L.A’s salary cap. Reaves also wouldn’t have minded the extra money, but in the end, he’s simply happy to remain where he wanted:
“I don’t know, it’s hard to be mad at making $54 million. That’s way more money that I ever thought I would make, especially playing basically a kids sport for a living. Obviously I wish that I coulda got as much money as possible, but like I said the fit and opportunity here in L.A. is really what we wanted and really where we wanted to be.”
Reaves could have gotten nearly $100 million from the Spurs or any other team capable of making him a max offer, but the belief that the Lakers would have matched the deal ultimately scared them off. In the end, both sides got what they wanted most.
Lakers’ Austin Reaves lays out goals for 2023-24 season
Now that free agency and everything else is behind him, Reaves is fully focused on the upcoming season and his main goal is to help the Lakers win the championship in the 2023-24 season.
Reaves noted that will always be the top goal and as for individual ones, he doesn’t focus on them too much and simply wants to play the right way and help the team win. Reaves added that he is looking forward to taking on more responsibility and believes he can do even more than what he showed last year.
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