Austin Reaves has emerged from a beloved rotation piece to one of the Los Angeles Lakers' most important players. Reaves' crafty ballhandling as well as his penchant for drawing fouls has made him such a valuable part of the Lakers' offense — just in time for his foray into free agency.

But keeping him may not be as simple as merely putting pen to paper. According to Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times, the Houston Rockets may look into signing Reaves to a huge offer sheet in the aftermath of James Harden accepting his player option and subsequently requesting a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers. It's in Reaves' best interest to sign an offer sheet, as doing so would allow him to make the most money he possibly could given the Lakers' cap restrictions.

The Rockets' bid to improve their roster this offseason has been the league's worst-kept secret. In addition to this reported interest in Reaves, they are also reportedly in the market for Fred VanVleet, Kyle Kuzma, Dillon Brooks, and Brook Lopez. But given the Lakers' most recent roster moves, luring him away from Los Angeles may be a near-impossible task for the Rockets front office.

As one would recall, the Lakers recently cut Mo Bamba and Malik Beasley. This ensures that they could re-sign the likes of Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, and D'Angelo Russell without losing access to the full midlevel exception, which could allow them to lure Bruce Brown away from the reigning champion Denver Nuggets. But the Rockets, in light of losing out on the chance to sign James Harden in free agency, will not make doing so easy.