As early as the middle of last season, Austin Reaves and Luka Dončić were already having conversations about their future. Reaves was set to hit free agency in June, but the two discussed what a continued partnership in the purple and gold would look like. Once the offseason came around, those talks evolved into what they each needed to do to put the Los Angeles Lakers in a position to succeed.
“Very bland, to be honest,” Reaves told reporters at the Lakers’ media day on Monday, Sept. 28. “But at the end of the day, we care about winning, and that’s all that matters.”
The result was a five-year, $184.76 million contract for Reaves – who president of basketball operations Rob Pelinka identified as the No. 1 priority this offseason after LeBron James left in free agency – and an almost entirely new supporting cast around him and Dončić.
So new, in fact, that Reaves is now the longest-tenured Laker. Not bad for a kid from Oklahoma who arrived in LA as a two-way player after going undrafted in 2021. The growth over his five-year career was most evident when he went from looking virally flustered by James’ on-court directions as a rookie to commanding the attention of the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on the sideline a year ago.
Dončić has seen that development in just over 18 months since coming to the Lakers.
“He improved a lot,” Dončić said. “He talks more to a lot of people. Obviously, the new players, they’re gonna look up to him, ask him things. So, I think he did a big step forward.”
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