Lakers Must Sign Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura to New Contracts amid Latest NBA Rumors
Decision time is coming for the Los Angeles Lakers.
After being swept out of the NBA's Western Conference Finals by the top-seeded Denver Nuggets, the Lakers have shifted fully into offseason mode. This summer figures to be a big one for the Purple and Gold with the bulk of this roster bound for free agency.
Two of their key contributors, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura, have restricted free agency awaiting them and perhaps huge money coming their way. Theoretically, that casts a cloud of uncertainty over their futures, though the Lakers have reportedly decided their fates already.
Marc Stein wrote at Substack that the Lakers are "determined" to bring back both, adding "there is frankly no scenario" in which Reaves leaves town and noting the team is "quite eager" to keep Hachimura, too.
It's the only sensible strategy with both, for reasons we'll detail here.
L.A. Prepared for This
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When the Lakers overhauled their roster at the trade deadline, they did so with more than the stretch run in mind. As general manager Rob Pelinka relayed at the time, the activity was essentially a head-start on free agency.
"I think a deep dive into this, you can almost look at it as 'pre-agency,'" Pelinka told reporters. "We very intentionally planned these moves to provide optionality in June."
Optionality, of course, suggests the existence of multiple paths for the franchise to take, and in some cases, they will be worth exploring.
The Lakers may have been initially interested in retaining players such as D'Angelo Russell (unrestricted), Malik Beasley (team option) and Mo Bamba (non-guaranteed salary), but those plans may have changed. Russell had a rough playoff run, Beasley couldn't crack the postseason rotation, and Bamba battled injuries and ineffectiveness.
With players like Hachimura and Reaves, though, L.A. doesn't need to consider alternatives. They ranked favorably among the team's top postseason performers and should have cemented themselves in the organization's long-term plans.
Both Proved Their Worth This Season
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Last season, Reaves emerged as a pleasant surprise, blossoming from an undrafted free agent to a regular rotation player. This season, he looked more like a rising star.
The surging sophomore really hit his stride after the All-Star break, averaging 17.6 points (on 57.8/44.3/85.6 shooting) and 5.5 assists from that point forward. More impressively, he mostly maintained that production in the playoffs with 16.9 points (on 45.9/44.2/88.7 shooting) and 4.7 assists over 15 outings.
As for Hachimura, he landed in L.A. as a former top-10 pick (No. 9 in 2019) with a wealth of physical tools but some questions about how his game actually impacted winning. He was an inside-the-arc scoring threat who didn't always hold his own defensively.
Then, the postseason tipped, and he got busy changing his career trajectory. He wound up finishing his playoff run with a sizzling 58.8/52.8/86.7 shooting slash and leaned on his 6'8", 230-pound frame to make an impact defensively.
In the conference finals, Hachimura held his own against Nikola Jokić, limiting the two-time MVP to 11-of-26 shooting as his primary defender, per NBA.com.
The Lakers Control These Situations
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While free agency inherently features some unknowns, restricted free agency takes some of those variables off the table. Teams can offer Reaves and Hachimura whatever they want, but the Lakers will have the option of matching those offers.
Hachimura is unlikely to fetch a number so high it would give the Lakers sticker shock.
As good as he was in the playoffs, the 25-year-old never started and spent more than half of the game on the sideline (23.1 minutes of floor time per night). It's hard to imagine anyone making him their top priority, particularly if they believe the Lakers won't let him go and would therefore be typing up their cap space for no reason.
Reaves' market reads a little differently. He is polished enough to attract win-now shoppers and might offer enough potential as a second-year player to catch the eye of rebuilders, too.
As B/R's Eric Pincus noted, a cap space team could give the 24-year-old a four-year, $98.7 million offer.
That number could, in theory at least, give the Lakers some pause if they see Reaves as more of a high-end role player than an ascending star.
Still, there are no guarantees anyone would offer him that much, and even if they did, the contract would be back-loaded with max salaries for the final two seasons, meaning the huge money wouldn't hit until the 2025-26 season—conveniently just after LeBron James' contract comes off the books.
In other words, the only way Hachimura or Reaves walks this summer is if L.A. decides to let them go. Based on what we've seen the past few months, the Lakers would be foolish to go that route.
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