Austin Reaves went undrafted in 2021 and the Lakers just made him a $185 million max player, which should tell you everything you need to know about either the NBA draft or the concept of destiny, and I’m still not sure which.
https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/2069805085991801101
Before we go any further, I need you to understand the Pistons situation. Detroit told Reaves’ camp they intended to select him in the 2021 draft. His agent called back and said: if you want him, guarantee the contract. The Pistons said no. Austin Reaves went undrafted and signed a two-way deal with the Lakers — the franchise he wanted to begin with — and that is the entire story of how Detroit gave away what just became the richest undrafted contract in NBA history.
His Year 1 salary on this new deal is $41.3 million. Year 4 player option: $51.2 million.
He scored 7.3 points per game as a rookie. Then 13.0. Then 15.9. Then 20.2. Then 23.3 this past season on a .490/.360/.871 shooting split while LeBron James was staging his farewell tour in Los Angeles. The man just linearly became a max player in four years. On a two-way deal. In a city where people come to be famous, not to become good.
Rob Pelinka called it: “He started his journey here as a Laker and has made it very clear to us that he wants his journey to continue as a Laker.” That sentence is doing a lot of work, but the honest version is that Reaves could have gone to Detroit in free agency and got paid there too, and he stayed anyway.
Luka Doncic reportedly told Lakers management not to include Reaves in any trade discussions. That detail matters more than the contract number. Luka saw what the rest of the league somehow missed for three years.
Here’s the part I cannot stop thinking about. The Lakers have always been the franchise that attracted stars through gravity — the idea that greatness gravitates to Los Angeles and the purple and gold. LeBron James is reportedly heading somewhere east this summer to figure out his next chapter. The star-gravity machine that built the Laker brand is somewhere on the highway right now, and Austin Reaves is in the house.
That’s a different franchise identity than anyone in that organization planned for. They accidentally built a development program that works. You try to collect stars long enough, and you sometimes accidentally develop one of your own, and then you spend $185 million trying to keep him.
(My mom, who listens to sports radio from the dental office all day, texted me this morning: “Who’s the guy who went undrafted that the Lakers are paying $185 million?” I said that’s kind of the whole point of the story, mom. She said, “That’s a lot for someone who wasn’t drafted.” I said yeah. She said, “Wasn’t LeBron supposed to stay?” I said probably not. She said, “Okay, good luck with your article.”)
The honest complication here is that Reaves put up these numbers next to the greatest player of his generation running the offense. The 23.3 points per game were real. The playoffs production was real. But I don’t know what he looks like as the primary option on a team that needs him to be the primary option, because nobody does yet, because this year hasn’t happened yet.
Luka apparently thinks he’s seen enough.
The Pistons had their shot in 2021. They said the number was too high.
The number was $0.
