Let the free agency rumors begin!
Dan Woike, the veteran Los Angeles Lakers beat writer, turned Nets — and Lakers — fans’ attention from the NBA Draft to impending free agency Friday with a report that Sean Marks & co. are “expected” to offer unrestricted free agent Austin Reaves a max of $178.5 million over four years when free agency begins on June 30.
Writing for The Athletic, Woike reported that Brooklyn is ready to move on the 6’5” 28-year-old shooting guard.
Multiple front-office sources around the league, granted anonymity to freely discuss an opposing player, expect Reaves to have interest from the Brooklyn Nets, with a four-year, $178.5 million contract expected to be offered. League sources said the Detroit Pistons and Atlanta Hawks are among a group of interested teams that can create space to make competitive offers. Other teams could also emerge.
That’s the headline, of course, and it follows other speculation about the Nets and Reaves.
Two weeks ago, ESPN’s Tim Bontemps wrote about a possible link-up between the Nets and Reaves. Like Woike, Bontemps singled out the Nets and only the Nets as serious rivals to the Lakers in a Reaves sweepstakes.
One potential bidder to watch this summer, sources said, is the Brooklyn Nets, who will enter the offseason with more than enough salary cap space to accommodate a max-type player.
And like Woike, Bontemps noted the prevailing wisdom is that when all is said, done and signed, the once undrafted Reaves will likely be very, very rich and wearing purple-and-gold rather than black-and-white.
The majority opinion is that Reaves will remain in Los Angeles — and on a massive raise. But after playing on one of the best value contracts in the league the past few seasons, what number gets that done?
While the Nets could offer Reaves up to $178.5 million over four, the Lakers can give him $239 million over five. The question Woike raises, as did Bontemps, is whether the new ownership in L.A. — Mark Walther and his Guggenheim Partners — will be willing to pass their first test and pay the full cost.
If the Lakers were competing against no one, maybe they could be more frugal in the negotiations and try to save every penny possible to throw at players who fit their other needs. If they do that, they risk losing Reaves to a better offer somewhere else.
“You can’t let a talent like that walk,” one Western Conference executive said. “That would be a disaster.”
Having another team willing to lay down big dollars would complicate the Lakers’ bidding, particularly since they have to consider future deals with Luka Doncic and LeBron James as well as a whole slew of lesser lights. And the Nets have the wherewithal to make a credible offer. They will have somewhere around $35 million in cap space and could probably generate more if needed. And if a sign-and-trade evolves, giving the Nets an opportunity to pay Reaves at or near what the Lakers can, they have all those draft assets at the ready.
The first indication of how things will go could come as early as Sunday. If the Knicks beat the Spurs Saturday night in San Antonio, Sunday will be the first day teams can talk to their own free agents. Will the Lakers seize the opportunity and provide Reaves with that $239 million over five sheet? If not, or if Reaves simply wants to listen to the Nets or other teams offers, the Lakers will have to wait till June 30 starting at 6:00 p.m. ET.
Reaves would be difficult to replace in Los Angeles both in tangibles and intangibles, as Woike writes. He averaged 23.5 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists in an offense that revolved around Doncic and James. Perhaps at least as important is the intangibles.
“He started his journey here as a Laker and has made it very clear to us that he wants his journey to continue as a Laker. And we feel the same way. We want his odyssey to continue to unfold in the purple and gold,” GM Rob Pelinka said in his end-of-season interview. “There’s rules and timing to all of that, but I think both sides have made it abundantly clear that we want to work something out where he continues his prolific career here.”
Also, Woike writes that Reaves has great relations with Doncic, James and his head coach, J.J. Redick.
He does, after all, want to remain with the team. He does, after all, have a real relationship with Dončić, a real relationship with fellow free agent LeBron James and a real relationship (and shared respect) with his coach, JJ Redick. He does, after all, love to play golf and love to drive down the 405 South to his country club on off days to play until after the sun sets over Los Angeles.
What might be attractive to him in Brooklyn? With that contract , he’d likely be the Nets’ lead guy, not stuck behind Doncic and James. Of course, there’s another point in here beyond Reaves free agency: does this signal that the Nets are going to swing for the fences and try to acquire a star or superstar? Remember, the franchise had hoped that getting a top pick in the Lottery would make them more attractive to free agents or unhappy stars.
Bottom line, based on what we know, is that there should be a lot of healthy skepticism about Reaves leaving L.A. for Brooklyn. Then again, weird stuff is happening all over New York nowadays…
Stay tuned.
- NBA rumors: Nets preparing $178.5 million offer to steal Austin Reaves from Lakers – Malik Brown – Clutch Points
