Detroit's aggressive pursuit of Austin Reaves forced the Lakers into a $185 million max deal that could handicap the roster for years.
The Los Angeles Lakers locked up Austin Reaves this week on a four-year, $185 million maximum contract, making the 28-year-old the highest-paid undrafted player in NBA history.
The deal includes a player option for the 2029-30 season and keeps Reaves alongside Luka Doncic for the long term, but there is a real case that it was the wrong move for a team that still has major holes to fill.
What Pushed the Lakers to Act
ESPN's Shams Charania reported that the Lakers learned over the past 24 to 48 hours that Reaves had multiple max contract offers waiting if he hit the open market on July 1.
The Detroit Pistons were the most aggressive team in pursuit, reportedly prepared to trade Isaiah Stewart just to clear enough cap space to make a run at Reaves.
The front office had initially offered Reaves something around $30 million per year, according to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, but once the Pistons emerged as a real threat, the Lakers jumped to $46.25 million per year rather than risk losing him for nothing.
Why This Was the Wrong Move
Reaves is a talented player, as he averaged 23.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game this past season while shooting 49 percent from the field, but calling him a max player is a stretch when he appeared in just 51 of 82 games.
A strained oblique and a left calf injury cost him 19 straight games from late December through February, and he also missed the final five games of the regular season and the first four playoff games.
The Lakers went 53-29 and earned the fourth seed in the Western Conference, but they were swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round after Doncic, who led the league in scoring at 33.5 points per game, went down with a hamstring injury and missed the entire postseason.
Paying Reaves $46 million a year when he has been targeted on defense in the playoffs does not set this team up to close the gap on the top of the West.
How This Handicaps the Roster
The real problem is what this deal does to the rest of the roster, as Doncic and Reaves are set to combine for roughly $90 million next season, leaving very little room to fix their biggest weaknesses.
Deandre Ayton was inconsistent at center all year, Marcus Smart needs a new deal, and LeBron James is an unrestricted free agent who may not return.
The Lakers have roughly $45 to $50 million in cap space right now thanks to Reaves' low $20.9 million cap hold, but once his actual salary hits the books, the financial picture tightens fast.
This was a team that got swept in the second round with Reaves healthy and Doncic out, and now they have even less flexibility to improve around their two highest-paid players.
The Pistons did not set out to corner the Lakers, but their pursuit of Reaves forced Los Angeles into an overpay that could limit this franchise for years.
