All Lakers Experts Predict Free Agent Market For Austin Reaves

Is LA headed for an Alex Caruso-esque divorce?

Second-year Los Angeles Lakers reserve shooting guard Austin Reaves has taken a massive leap this season, and emerged as a really exciting prospect on both sides of the ball.

After going undrafted in 2021 out of the University of Oklahoma, the 6'5" swingman was picked up by the Lakers on a two-way deal, and by training camp had already outperformed that contract and was upgraded to the team's standard 15-man roster. This year, he's taken another leap, becoming more efficient in all aspects as a shooter while continuing to be a solid playmaker and defender.

This season, he's averaging 11.2 points on .510/.387/.870 shooting splits (all career highs), 2.8 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 0.5 steals across 50 games with a solid 33-35 LA team, in 27.6 minutes per.

He will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. All Lakers experts Doug McKain, Noah Camras and Noel Sanchez got together recently to discuss how much it could cost to keep Reaves around long-term -- and how much of a mistake it would be to let him walk.

"What are you comfortable paying for [Austin Reaves]?" McKain asked. "I'm thinking something [like] three years, $30 million, maybe even four years, $45 million."

"I think we've all been very impressed with Austin Reaves, but it's just incredible, the type of basketball player that he's turned into out of nowhere," Camras said. "I think a lot of scouts deserve to be fired for not drafting Austin Reaves for what he's done and what he's turned into on this team. He's such an incredible shooter and shot creator and scorer... On the other side he's a great defender, he's got great energy, he hustles."

"As far as extensions go, I think 100% they have to bring him back. They can't let the same mistake happen like they did with [Alex] Caruso... I think Reaves would be a bigger loss, not bringing him back... I'm saying like you said, somewhere maybe in the $12 million-a-year range, like three [years for $36 million], maybe you can get away with a four [year deal for] $44 [million]."

As a refresher, the Lakers opted not to match the Chicago Bulls' four-year, $37 million deal for Caruso, a former key reserve on their 2020 championship-winning team, during the summer of 2021. In retrospect, that was a massive mistake, even if Caruso has dealt with his fair share of injury issues during his two years with the Windy City.

"I really feel like Reaves has broken out of the barrier that I feel like a lot of Lakers fan favorites fall into," Sandoval said. "And that's either that you stay a fan favorite for a couple plays and you know they're good for a couple things, or you really transcend into a player that is going to become a key part of their rotation, and Reaves has really done that."

Per Luke Adams of Hoops Rumors, the standard mid-level exception for the 2022-23 season is anticipated to be worth about $11.4 million annually, right in line with the money Reaves could command, so theoretically any team that is over the cap could tender an offer in that price range to him.

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