Lakers' Lowball Offer to Austin Reaves Uncovered in New NBA Rumors After Max Contract Signing

The Detroit Pistons' pursuit of Austin Reaves may have helped him land a bigger offer from the Los Angeles Lakers.

ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported Thursday on First Take that the Lakers initially offered Reaves $30 million per year, but the Pistons and other teams pursuing him led to him getting more than $46 million per year.

"Austin Reaves, from what I understand, two days ago was somewhere around $30 million per year in his offer from the Lakers," Windhorst said (7:15 mark). "A very good contract. A far cry from what they offered him yesterday. What they offered him yesterday and he agreed to was more than $45 million per year. That's a 50 percent increase in like 24 hours...

"Why? Leverage. Because the Detroit Pistons were lining it up. You saw last night they made to move off Isaiah Stewart. That cleared salary cap space."

Reaves agreed to a four-year, $185 million contract from the Lakers that includes a player option in the 2029-30 season. Reaves had a career year in 2025-26, putting up 23.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 boards per game.

With this year's free agency class being relatively weak, he was one of the best players available, which led to plenty of interest from around the league.

He ultimately decided to stay in Los Angeles, but testing free agency waters rather than immediately signing with the Lakers turned out to be the right choice.