The Los Angeles Lakers are treating Austin Reaves like more than a breakout guard. Team reporter Jovan Buha said Reaves is a franchise cornerstone and the club’s priority over re-signing LeBron James, a signal that the offseason pecking order in Los Angeles is already taking shape.
That matters now because Reaves is expected to decline his $14.9 million player option in the 2025-26 offseason and enter unrestricted free agency, with a new deal projected to land in the $40 million per season range. For the Lakers, that would put a major salary decision at the center of their summer planning. For Reaves, it puts him on track for the kind of contract that reflects a star-level jump rather than a supporting role.
The interest in Reaves is not abstract. Chicago, Brooklyn and Los Angeles are all projected to have cap space, but the Bulls are carrying $95.3 million committed to ten players next season while the salary cap is projected at $165 million. That leaves room on paper, yet not much certainty about how aggressively Chicago can chase a player expected to command that kind of money.
There is also a reason the Bulls look like the long shot even with that flexibility. Reaves wants to be in Los Angeles, and Buha said the feeling is mutual. He also wants to play for a contender, which fits the Lakers’ view of him as a player to build around while they sort out the rest of the roster. The close relationship Reaves has with Luka Doncic only strengthens the sense that his next move is more likely to be measured in continuity than in a bidding war.
That leaves the Lakers facing the real decision that matters: whether they are willing to pay the price they appear ready to assign to him. If Reaves declines the option, the numbers point toward a free-agent market built around Los Angeles, not Chicago, and toward a Lakers offseason in which retaining him becomes the priority that defines everything else.
