rob pelinka
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Los Angeles Lakers president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka.
The Los Angeles Lakers got good news this offseason when Luka Doncic agreed to sign a three-year contract extension with the team. The future is set, but Doncic isn’t going to be enough to single-handedly win championships.
LeBron James is 40 and might be entering his final year with the Lakers, so he won’t be a running mate for long. Austin Reaves is the obvious choice to be Doncic’s long-term running mate, but he turned down a contract extension from the team this offseason.
However, that’s not because he doesn’t want to be in Los Angeles. After this season, he’ll be a free agent and is free to sign a much bigger contract. According to Lakers insider Jovan Buha, Reaves wants to be a Laker and should be in line for a big payday next offseason.
“People around the league are penciling him in to make $30-plus million this summer, whether it’s with the Lakers or someone else,” Buha said on SportsNet LA. “I expect it to be with the Lakers. I expect him to re-sign on a multiyear deal. He wants to be a Laker for life.”
Reaves is a homegrown talent, so the team should be highly motivated to keep him around, especially if he continues to improve.
Is Reaves a Worthy No. 2 for Doncic?
Reaves was an undrafted free agent signing coming into the NBA, but he’s proving to be one of the best players from the 2021 class. He had shown flashes in previous years, but really broke out last season.
He averaged a career-high 20.2 points per game. He worked very well next to Doncic and is a borderline All-Star. That said, he’s already older than Doncic, so he may have already reached his ceiling.
20-point-per-game scorers aren’t always easy to find, but they might not be worth over $30 million a year in every case. If the Lakers can’t find a higher-end running mate, he’ll likely get paid, but they may try to convince him to take less.
Lakers May Not Be Able to Land True Superstar
The problem facing Los Angeles is that it’s just very difficult to add superstar players. There’s only so much room in the salary cap. Giannis Antetokounmpo or Nikola Jokic are the two biggest names who are starting to get floated in trade rumors.
Both players would be excellent fits next to Doncic, but it might not be possible for the Lakers to add either. The Athletic’s Dan Woike doesn’t see a scenario where the Lakers could trade for either, but perhaps something could happen in 2027, when both players could theoretically be free agents.
“Do I think either is realistic as a trade target? No, not really. The market would need to be way suppressed by a player saying they would simply walk to the Lakers in free agency so 28 other teams shouldn’t even consider bidding, and still the Lakers’ offer would be thin,” Woike wrote. “Now, 2027 in free agency, should either Giannis or Jokić make it there, could be interesting, especially if Dončić has the kind of season the Lakers expect out of him.”