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Austin Reaves ended all doubt surrounding his future with the Los Angeles Lakers when he put pen to paper on a four-year, $56 million extension this offseason. There was a lot of buzz pertaining to Reaves potentially opting to jump ship, with multiple teams supposedly showing interest in the highly-touted 25-year-old following a breakout season. In the end, Reaves remained loyal to LA.
The 6-foot-5 shooting guard was a guest on the latest episode of the All the Smoke podcast with Stephen Jackson and Matt Barnes. They had a variety of interesting topics, but at one point, Reaves also talked about how close he really was to leaving Hollywood. As it turns out, it wasn't really a tough decision for him:
“I really wanted to be in L.A. the whole time,” Reaves said. “There was a couple situations that were close, but like I said, I really wanted to be in L.A. L.A. feels like home to me, so that's really where I wanted to be.”
The Lakers guard did admit that the two teams that were on his radar were the Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs:
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“Houston, before the [Fred VanVleet deal], and then San Antonio,” he said.
Barnes and Jackson were stumped after Reaves revealed that the Spurs was one of his possible landing spots. Jackson, who himself suited up for San Antonio during his playing days, had his eyes light up, as he probably imagined Reaves' botched partnership with Victor Wembanyama.
It is unclear how much money the Rockets or the Spurs offered — or if an offer sheet was actually on the table in the first place. What's important, however, is that Austin Reaves is going to be with the Lakers for the foreseeable future.
