As Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves readied himself for free agency earlier this summer, many expected the team to re-sign him, but it wasn’t a certainty.
Other teams, particularly the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs, were expected to make him offers. The Lakers were going to have the right to match any such offer, as Reaves was a restricted free agent.
But in the end, the opposing offers never came, and the undrafted standout signed a new contract with Los Angeles that seems very reasonable.
He says that all along, the preferred plan was for him to stay in the Purple and Gold.
Via ESPN:
“The whole time it was, ‘Get back to L.A.,'” Reaves said. “That’s where I want to be. It feels like home to me. I’ve said that multiple times before the free agency stuff, but it was different. I had a stressful probably 10 hours, but after that, when it was done, couldn’t be more excited with the situation, with the team that we got, going back to L.A.”
“… We played out every scenario. My agents, we talked probably literally like 10, 11 hours straight that night about what we wanted in the contract, years, whatever. “But like I said, I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
Reaves is now practicing with Team USA ahead of the upcoming FIBA World Cup. Perhaps the upward trajectory of his basketball career is just getting started.
