Welcome to our annualLakers season in review series, where we’ll look back at each player on the team’s roster this season and evaluate if they should be part of the future of the franchise. Today, we continue with a look at Austin Reaves.
Over the course of Austin Reaves’ four seasons with the Lakers, there have been progressively stronger flirtations with the idea that he would ultimately become an on-ball shot creator and offensive initiator.
Going all the way back to that final regular season game in Denver in his rookie campaign when he logged that triple-double to that Game 1 closing stretch takeover in Memphis in his sophomore season, it was clear folks in the organization saw his ability to do the job and wanted to give him the opportunity to see if he could pay it off.
This past season, however, Reaves’ role as primary ball handler was fast-tracked further, ultimately landing him as the team’s starting point guard in tandem with the trade of D’Angelo Russell — a role that was only somewhat diminished even after the team made the franchise-altering move to acquire Luka Dončić.
Austin, then, may have seen his role shift slightly throughout the various iterations of the roster, but his progress was never deprioritized and the end vision of what he would and could be was never altered. Don’t take my word for it, though, take Rob Pelinka’s, who called Reaves a “pillar” of the team next to both Dončić and LeBron James.
In other words, after his fourth NBA season, Reaves is (rightfully) viewed as one of the team’s very best players and the leap he made this season in both role and production explains why.
How did he play?
Reaves had the best regular season of his young career, showing a spike in his scoring up to 20.2 points per game while his assists climbed to 5.8 per night, both career highs. He also boasted career bests in rebounds (4.5), free throws attempted (5.0) and made (4.4), free throw percentage (87.7%) and 3-pointers attempted (7.3) and made (2.7) per game.
His turnovers were slightly up from last season and his effective field goal percentage fell for the second consecutive year, but that tends to happen when your usage rate climbs from 16.2 two years ago all the way up to 23.7 last year. All that came while, pre-Luka trade, also being tasked with running his own unit on most nights as either the lone ball handler or the main perimeter shot creator.
Reaves also showed his penchant for having big games when needed and/or when more from him was required. Like when the Lakers played the Knicks in New York on Feb, 1 right after Anthony Davis was injured and he poured in 27 points on 7-12 shooting while making all nine of his free throws to help the team get a much-needed win.
Or, a week later when, after already trading AD for Luka, the Lakers played the Pacers without LeBron or Dončić available and Austin dropped 45 points along with seven rebounds and seven assists to get the victory. Reaves absolutely torched Indy, connecting on 14 of his 26 shot attempts and all 13 of his free throws while playing 40 minutes against the team that looks primed to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.
There were countless additional big games that he had, including others where LeBron was out, where Reaves showed he was able to step into a larger role and not just produce numbers, but impact winning by being the sort of tentpole player teams gameplan for and still be able to produce good offense.
Which made his struggles in the postseason that much more difficult for the team to manage and, honestly, surprising.
After showing in previous seasons that he could be a playoff riser, the combination of a difficult matchup against the Timberwolves and a previously undisclosed toe injury that was not reported until after the Lakers were eliminated, Reaves never really found his game. He averaged just 16.2 points and 3.6 assists while seeing his shooting percentages dip to just 41.1% from the field and 31.9% from behind the arc.
On too many possessions he struggled to be able to get inside the 3-point line to be a threat, reflective of him taking just seven free throws all series while seeing his 3-point rate — i.e. the percentage of his shot attempts that come from behind the arc — climbed to 64.4% of his total shot diet. This was not a formula that proved effective for him and it was too out of balance from what he did to succeed during the regular season.
How wide a shadow that five-game sample against the Wolves casts over what really was a great regular season from Austin is up to each individual and their own point of view. That said, it would be silly to ignore the progress he’s made in his four seasons or the payoff the investment in his on-ball reps has reaped to this point.
The degree to which the improvement continues and, to a lesser but just as meaningful degree, his fit next to Luka informs what comes next, however, is something both Reaves and the Lakers will need to weigh.
What is his contract situation moving forward?
Reaves is on one of the best value contracts in the NBA with a $13.9 million salary next season and a $14.9 million player option for the 2026-27 season. Reaves is extension eligible this summer, but due to the extension rules of the collective bargaining agreement, that extension would be based on the annual value of his current contract, meaning it would still leave him below what his market would be as an unrestricted free agent.
With that, it’s widely believed that Reaves will decline his player option next summer and enter into unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2026 when 24 teams currently project to have some modicum of cap space and 20 of those teams currently are projected to have at least $30 million in space.
Those numbers can change over the next 14 months when contract extensions, free agency deals are agreed to, and draft picks are signed, but it’s clear that Reaves and his agents understood what having a walk year in 2026 could mean for his earning power and I’d expect them to explore those options thoroughly.
Should he be back?
The default answer to this question is yes, but I would argue this isn’t the time for simple default answers or for there to be absolutes for any player next season beyond Dončić (and, to a different level and for different reasons, LeBron).
As noted above, it’s very unlikely Reaves will be on his current contract for longer than one more season and, considering the amount of cap space around the league next summer and the initial reporting of what Austin and/or his representation will be seeking in annual contract value, the Lakers will need to make a decision on just how much Austin’s value to the team is based on his on-court performance vs. how much it’s based on his performance relative to the contract he’s currently on.
They’d be wise to put the maximum extension on the table and see if he’ll agree to that deal even if it’s a reach that he’d sign it. And then, if he doesn’t (as should be expected), they should think long and hard about what his value is, what they think his next contract will be, and whether those two things align.
Regardless of what that answer is, they would then also be wise to determine if they can stomach trading him and if that answer is yes, what sort of player they would want in return, if that level of player is obtainable, and, if so, have those discussions and potentially move forward with negotiating to make a deal.
That’s a lot of ifs.
And it’s because this isn’t so simple that I would expect Reaves to be back next year and to have another great season. He is, after all, really good at basketball, competitive as hell, and coming off a postseason where, injury be damned, he didn’t play as well as he’d have wanted. That sort of thing tends to drive people like Reaves crazy and I’d imagine his response will be to come back better than ever.
The Lakers, if nothing else, would benefit from that version of Reaves a great deal and would foster the type of continuity between him and Dončić (as well as LeBron) that could chart a path towards real contention. And if that means they have to answer the questions about his next contract later, that’s likely a risk they’re willing to take.
You can follow Darius on BlueSky at@forumbluegold.