Lakers Rumors: Spurs Considered Giving Austin Reaves Offer Sheet Before LAL Contract

Austin Reaves will remain with the Los Angeles Lakers after agreeing to a four-year, $56 million deal with the Purple and Gold this offseason, but the San Antonio Spurs reportedly considered pursuing him as well.

"I think the Reaves contract has a chance to be one of the best contracts in the league from a team perspective," ESPN's Zach Lowe said on his podcast (1:07:25 mark). "And the Lakers got very, very lucky that nobody made them pay through the nose. And I know San Antonio was going back and forth on it and just for whatever reason didn't do it, and that's a steal."

It is frankly somewhat surprising the Spurs didn't make Reaves a significant offer if they were considering it.

After all, he was a restricted free agent and there were multiple reports this offseason suggesting the Lakers would match any offer he received. That means San Antonio could have offered almost $100 million over four years and forced Los Angeles' hand.

Even if the Lakers would still have the swingman on their team, it wouldn't have been on such a team-friendly deal. In turn, that could have limited some of the other moves they made during what has been a generally successful offseason.

Los Angeles secured Reaves, D'Angelo Russell, Gabe Vincent, Cam Reddish, Rui Hachimura, Taurean Prince and Jaxson Hayes, building a solid supporting cast around LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

It will be a championship-or-bust season with that group, especially after reaching the Western Conference Finals last season.

The Lakers figure to be one of the Spurs' primary competitors in the Western Conference if the latter turn the corner with new franchise cornerstone Victor Wembanyama. Limiting Los Angeles in any way could have benefited San Antonio in the long run, but it elected not to go through the motions if Reaves was going to return on a matched deal.

That was welcome news for the Lakers, who may have internally been prepared to pay much more for the 25-year-old who was third on the team in playoff scoring last season.