The Los Angeles Lakers are heading into an offseason that could reshape the franchise around Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves is one of the names now at the center of that shift. Reaves is expected to decline his $14.8 million player option for the 2026-27 NBA season and enter unrestricted free agency.
The Lakers are still expected to try to bring him back, but the market could complicate that plan. Other teams could be ready to make lucrative offers for Reaves, even as he has expressed interest in staying in Los Angeles. That makes him one of the team’s biggest decisions as it builds around Doncic, who is now the clear focus of the roster’s future.
The value discussion took on extra weight when Vlade Divac addressed Reaves on Mohr Stories with Jay Mohr. Asked whether he would sign Reaves to an extension worth $241 million, Divac said, “I love his game, but I wouldn’t as a GM,” then added, “As a fan, I would because he’s a great guy, he’s a great player, but he’s not on Luka’s level, let’s say.”
Divac’s comments carry their own history. In the 2018 NBA Draft, he passed on Luka Doncic at No. 2 overall and selected Marvin Bagley III instead, a choice that still shadows his evaluations of high-end talent. That is why his view of Reaves, and the price attached to him, lands differently now: the Lakers are not just deciding whether Reaves is worth keeping, but how far they should go financially while building around Doncic.
That tension is what makes this offseason matter. Los Angeles is expected to re-sign Reaves if he reaches free agency, but the gap between what the Lakers want and what another team may offer could define the summer. Reaves has given every indication he wants to stay. The question is whether the market lets the Lakers keep him on terms they can live with.
