Sports
NBA Rumors: Spurs Considered $100M Austin Reaves Contract Offer Before Lakers Deal – Bleacher Report
The San Antonio Spurs reportedly nearly made a huge contract offer to Austin Reaves this offseason before he re-signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in restricted free agency.
According to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, the Spurs considered two separate offer sheets for the 25-year-old. The first was a maximum offer of around $100 million over four years, and the second was for $60 million over three years.
Buha noted that had Reaves signed either of those offer sheets and the Lakers matched, his salary would have increased significantly in the third and fourth years of those contracts.
Instead of signing an offer sheet with any other team, Reaves came to terms on a new four-year, $53.8 million deal with L.A.
After starring collegiately at Oklahoma, Reaves signed with the Lakers as an undrafted free agent in 2021, and he played a fairly significant role as a rookie, averaging 7.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.
The 25-year-old Reaves took a big step forward in his second season, starting 22 of the 64 games he appeared in, and setting new career highs with 13.0 points, 3.4 assists and 1.3 three-pointers made in 28.8 minutes per game. He also shot an impressive 52.9 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from beyond the arc.
As good as Reaves was during the regular season, he upped his game in the playoffs and was perhaps the Lakers’ most important player aside from LeBron James and Anthony Davis during their run to the Western Conference Finals.
In 16 postseason games, Reaves averaged 16.9 points, 4.6 assists, 4.4 rebounds and 2.4 trifectas per contest.
At 22-60, the Spurs were the worst team in the Western Conference last season, but their struggles paid off in the form of winning the NBA draft lottery and the opportunity to select French phenom Victor Wembanyama with the No. 1 overall pick.
Wembanyama joins a core that includes Keldon Johnson and Devin Vassell, and if Wembanyama is as good as advertised, the Spurs should be significantly better in 2023-24.
Adding Reaves to that would have potentially made the Spurs a threat to go from the basement to playoff contention, but they ultimately decided to maintain their flexibility.
Many of the veterans on San Antonio’s roster come off the books after next season, including Doug McDermott, Reggie Bullock, Cameron Payne, Cedi Osman and Khem Birch.
That should give the Spurs a ton of salary cap space to play with next offseason and the ability to be an huge factor on the free-agent market.
Signing Reaves to a sizable deal may have taken the Spurs out of the free agency mix to some degree, which ultimately worked to the Lakers’ advantage.