Easily one of the Los Angeles Lakers' most important questions that must be answered this upcoming season pertains to the long-term fit of Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves. In all likelihood, Reaves will turn down his player option after this season and could command a contract in the ballpark of $30 to $35 million per year. Sources close to the situation say both he and the Lakers would like to continue their relationship for the foreseeable future, but doing so will only make sense if he and Doncic can prove they are a championship-caliber pairing.
To be clear and fair to Reaves, he has done everything Los Angeles has asked him to do. At any moment, he has been asked to oscillate from a primary to secondary or tertiary creator/scorer. At a few points in his career, he has been the primary point-of-attack defender, too. He has improved every year in the league and could very well make another leap this upcoming season, with more experience alongside Doncic to build on.
At times, the Lakers have over-stretched Reaves' responsibilities, but that's different from Reaves being a player a team can't win with.
What Austin Reaves worked on this summer
For example, in last year's playoffs, he spent a lot of his time guarding Anthony Edwards. That it didn't work out well isn't necessarily Reaves' fault, though even he would say he could've done better. LA not having a more viable option to put on Edwards was a much bigger issue than Reaves not being able to handle that matchup.
Even still, in an effort to fare better should that be his role next time the Lakers and Minnesota Timberwolves face off, sources say Reaves has focused on getting stronger. Ideally, Reaves won't be Edwards' primary defender again, especially with Marcus Smart on the roster now, but Reaves knows teams will continue to target him defensively and has worked to prepare for those challenges.
If Reaves does improve defensively, then he and Doncic can be the building blocks LA sees them as, but make no mistake, they will have to overwhelm offensively to make up for their defensive concerns.
On this front, sources close to the Lakers say Reaves has focused on shooting and attacking off the catch. This isn't to say Reaves has ignored ball handling and creating for others altogether, only that, while playing on a team with Doncic and LeBron James, he knows he'll have to be ready to produce in smaller windows.
What's next for Reaves?
One thing to watch for next season is Reaves' release. He has consistently worked to speed up how quickly the ball is in and out of his hands while shooting over the last few years, but his last two playoff series saw significant drops in 3-point percentage. Reaves is still a career 38% 3-point shooter in the playoffs so those might just be blips, but LA can't afford to see that trend continue.
A trend the Lakers would like to see continue is Reaves' free-throw totals heading in the same direction they did last year. Two seasons ago, Reaves attempted only 3.3 free throws per game, down from 4.1 in 2022-23 despite playing more minutes per game. Last year, that number jumped back up to 5.0 per night and, ideally, that number can continue to climb next season as well.
Doncic has already inked his max extension and sources confirm reports that Reaves turned down extension his seeing as the most the Lakers could offer was four years, $89.2 million. If/when Reaves opts out of his current contract, he'll be an unrestricted free agent with plenty of interest. League sources say the San Antonio Spurs and other teams are keeping a close eye on Reaves' free agency.
Seeing as LA could potentially lose Reaves for nothing, they'd be remiss not to consider trading him at some point this season, especially if it becomes clear he and Doncic's athleticism concerns are too much to overcome in pursuit of a championship.
The Lakers quickly cut any talks for Reaves short this summer and would only consider trading him unless he was part of the package for a bona fide star. That won't stop teams from asking about him this season and, if for any reason those questions about Reaves and Doncic linger, LA will have to take those requests more seriously.
Still, the goal and hope internally for the Lakers is to see Doncic and Reaves be a viable pair moving forward. They've already rewarded Doncic with his contract extension and, if this season goes well, would look forward to doing the same for Reaves' next deal.
