All Sooners

Former Oklahoma Star Lands Massive NBA Contract

After finishing his second NBA season strong, Austin Reaves received a four-year max extension and will stay in Los Angeles for the foreseeable future.

John E. Hoover

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
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Austin Reaves just got paid.

The former Sooners star has signed a four-year, $56 million contract extension with the Los Angeles Lakers, according to NBA insider Shams Charania.

Reaves was undrafted in the 2021 NBA Draft, but quickly caught on with the Lakers, averaging 7.3 points per game as a rookie and nearly doubling that last season to 13.0.  

Reaves eventually became a key piece in the Lakers’ postseason run this year, averaging 16.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game.

According to Charania, the Lakers want to keep Reaves in Los Angeles “long term,” reflected by his “early bird maximum” contract, which includes a player option for the fourth year, a 15 percent trade kicker and “included everything they legally could do” to ensure he remains a Laker.

Reaves played for Lon Kruger for two seasons at OU after transferring from Wichita State. He averaged 14.7 points in 2019-20 and 18.3 in 2020-21, shooting .443 from the field and .305 from 3-point range.

As a Shocker in 2016-17 and 2017-18, Reaves shot .509 from 3-point range as a true freshman and .425 as a sophomore while averaging 6.1 points per game.

The 6-foot-5 Reaves hails from Newark, AR, where he stood out at Cedar Ridge High School. Lakers fans dubbed him “Hillbilly Kobe” for his rural background and acrobatic scoring skills.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.