Lakers Rumors: '1 Certainty' Is LA 'Matching Anything on' Austin Reaves Contract

Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves will be a restricted free agent this summer. Don't expect him to go anywhere.

NBA reporter Marc Stein, answering questions in his Substack chat, wrote that the Lakers "are matching anything on Reaves. I think we can describe that as the one certainty about their offseason."

Stein added that re-signing Reaves and Rui Hachimura "continues to be regarded as the Lakers' preferred offseason course."

"I would say this resoundingly clear: Our intentions are to keep our core of young guys together," general manager Rob Pelinka told reporters this week. "We saw incredible growth and achievement by Rui, Austin—I could go down the list—[Jarred Vanderbilt], [D'Angelo Russell]. We have a lot of great young players and we want to do our best to fit the puzzle together."

He added: "Again, without talking specific players, we'll do our best to keep this group intact and growing and getting better each year."

Reaves, 24, was a revelation for the Lakers this season, averaging 13 points, 3.4 assists and three rebounds per game while shooting 52.9 percent from the field and 39.8 percent from three.

He won the full-time starting gig late in the regular season and was even better in the playoffs, putting up 16.9 points, 4.6 assists and 4.4 rebounds per contest while shooting 46.4 percent from the field and 44.3 percent from three.

By the end of the team's run to the Western Conference Finals, Reaves was arguably the Lakers' third-best player behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Where the Lakers could get in trouble matching any offers Reaves receives as a restricted free agent is if his market is so strong he gets an incredibly lucrative deal that will limit the team's ability to bring back other depth pieces.

But he clearly demonstrated his value to the Lakers this past season. And he's hopeful for a return.

"I want to be here," he told reporters. "This feels like home to me, in a sense. Obviously, it's a lot different than my actual home. It's a little bigger, a lot more people, worse traffic. But, I told somebody a couple months ago it feels like a home for me. The way the fans support me, the players, coaching staff, front office, this is definitely somewhere I want to be. But, we'll see what happens."