The Los Angeles Lakers have done a tremendous job in retaining and adding key free agents to bolster their chances for a LeBron James and Anthony Davis-led championship run in the 2023-24 NBA season. But by far, the Lakers' best move in NBA free agency was re-signing Austin Reaves.

Los Angeles boosted their guard rotation by signing Gabe Vincent to a bargain three-year, $33 million deal. They also signed Jaxson Hayes, Cam Reddish, and Taurean Prince to further upgrade their depth.

The Lakers also retained starting point guard D'Angelo Russell to a two-year, $37 million contract and Rui Hachimura to a three-year $51 million deal. But Austin Reaves' three-year $56 million contract by far topped the Lakers' moves this offseason.

Best Lakers move in 2023 NBA free agency: Re-sign Austin Reaves

The reason why the Austin Reaves move is the Lakers' best move in free agency is because of the price they were able to lock him up. At about $18.7 million a year, the Lakers got excellent value for their starting shooting guard. Reaves not only established himself as a legitimate NBA player despite going undrafted, but he became an essential piece for the championship team the Lakers are trying to build.

Reaves became a revelation for the Lakers during the 2022-23 season and solidified himself as a reliable starter near the end of the regular season and into the playoffs. He assumed his role in the first unit during the final 10 games of the regular season, where the Lakers went 8-2. Through that stretch, the 25-year-old averaged 16.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 6.1 assists, while shooting 57.1 percent from the field and 48.6 percent from three.

Reaves further proved his worth on the biggest stage — in the NBA playoffs. He started all of the Lakers' 16 games in the 2023 postseason and posted averages of 16.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.6 assists with efficient shooting splits of 46-44-89. Those numbers were definitely impressive, especially since it was the undrafted guard's first taste of playoff basketball.

After his tremendous postseason, many believed Reaves would outprice himself for Los Angeles' liking. There were rumblings that he could command a more massive deal than what he actually got from the Lakers. Over a month ago, Rob Pelinka and company were reportedly ready and willing to match any offer sheet Reaves would have received up to $100 million.

The San Antonio Spurs were one of the teams which considered giving Reaves an offer sheet, Zach Lowe of ESPN said during his podcast.

“I think the Reaves contract has a chance to be one of the best contracts in the league from a team perspective,” Lowe said. “And the Lakers got very lucky that nobody made them pay through the nose. And I know San Antonio was going back-and-forth on it and just for whatever reason didn't do it. That's a steal.”

Reaves could have ideally commanded at least an annual salary of $20 million a season and several teams had the capacity to offer him that deal for up to four years. All things considered, the Lakers were indeed fortunate that no team made them sweat in re-signing their starting shooting guard.