Lakers’ Austin Reaves ‘Not Obsessed’ With Signing 5-Year, $241M Deal

Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves is eligible to sign a five-year, $241 million deal with the team, and four years, $178.5 million elsewhere, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The first-year salary of $41.5 million constitutes approximately 25% of the salary cap in 2026-27.

Austin Reaves Wants To Remain In Los Angeles

While Reaves has played his way into earning a max contract, the fifth-year guard is reportedly “not obsessed over earning every dollar possible on his next deal, sources said, but knows there is a range based on industry standards,” reported ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.

“I try not to think about it. Honestly. I’ve said it a million times. I want to be in L.A. I love it,” Reaves told ESPN. “Even though the other extension was turned down, that doesn’t mean that I’m trying to go get a f—king gigantic number that don’t make sense.

“I want to be here, I want to win. I want to do everything that can help this organization be better. So I don’t try to think about those things.”

From today’s ESPN feature on Austin Reaves: making sense of the dollars at stake for Reaves this summer https://t.co/1TvJMXhguQ pic.twitter.com/lxcsBYse6z

— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) November 11, 2025

McMenamin noted that two other shooting guards, 26-year-old Jordan Poole and 25-year-old Tyler Herro, signed contract extensions with their original teams in 2022 — the Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat, respectively — that pay them 20% of the cap.

Per Marks, a starting annual salary offer of $19.5 million would’ve been more than a 2,000% raise from his rookie season, when he made $925,000 after going undrafted out of Oklahoma. It also would’ve been a 40% raise from his 2025-26 salary, the third year of a four-year, $54 million deal he signed in 2023.

Reaves Became 12th Lakers Player To Post 50-Point Game

With LeBron James and Luka Doncic sidelined with injuries, Reaves posted career-high numbers and even made NBA history at the start of the season.

Reaves scored a career-high 51 points in the Lakers’ 127-120 road win over the Sacramento Kings on Oct. 26.

It was the second-highest scoring game by an undrafted player in NBA history, behind only Fred VanVleet, who had 54 at Orlando on Feb. 2, 2021, while with the Toronto Raptors.

Reaves also became the fifth Lakers player this century to score 50 points in a single game, joining Kobe Bryant (25x), LeBron James (3x), Anthony Davis (2x), and Shaquille O’Neal (2x).

He went on to drop 41 points in L.A. on the Portland Trail Blazers the next night, and then recorded 28 points and 16 assists at Minnesota that was capped by an impressive buzzer-beater.

In eight appearances (all starts) this campaign, Reaves has averaged career highs of 30.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 9.0 assists, 1.5 steals, and 36.8 minutes per contest while shooting 48% from the field and 32.4% from deep.