Shams: Lakers' Austin Reaves 'Increasingly Looking' at Contract Offer in $50M Range

Austin Reaves is set to become a restricted free agent this summer, and the cost for the Los Angeles Lakers to retain him could be pretty high.

The maximum the Purple and Gold can offer Reaves is four years and $50 million. According to The Athletic and Stadium's Shams Charania, that type of deal is "increasingly looking like his marketplace."

"When you think about other teams, they can go higher than that," Charania said. "They can give him a poison pill offer sheet ... but the Lakers can match that because he is a restricted free agent."

Reaves has a qualifying offer worth $2 million for the 2023-24 season, according to Spotrac. He'll undoubtedly receive more than that in free agency, and the Lakers should do whatever they can to retain his services.

Of note, Jovan Buha of The Athletic reported both Reaves and the Lakers have interest in a new contract.

The Lakers currently have just four players on the books for next season—LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Jarred Vanderbilt and Max Christie. Malik Beasley, Davon Reed and Mo Bamba have non-guaranteed deals.

The Purple and Gold should have the room to keep Reaves in L.A., and The Athletic's Jovan Buha reported Monday that the two sides have interest in keeping him a Laker beyond this season.

During an appearance on the HoopsHype podcast with Michael Scotto, Buha offered more insight into the situation:

"This is kind of lining up to potentially be another Alex Caruso situation where he wants to be there, and the Lakers want to retain him, but if they try to get a little too cute with the offer or negotiation, I could see him potentially leaving and going somewhere where he's going to get the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception."

Reaves is coming off the game of his life, a 111-105 win over the Orlando Magic on Sunday night. He finished with 35 points, six rebounds and six assists in just over 30 minutes of action.

The 24-year-old, who is in just his second NBA season, has shown plenty of improvement this year. He's averaging 12.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 54 games while shooting 51.8 percent from the floor and 38.0 percent from deep.

If the Lakers can get Reaves locked up to a long-term deal, they'll have some more clarity on how to build the roster around him, James and Davis moving forward.