The Los Angeles Lakers have a number of free agent decisions to make this offseason, but the most pressing one is certainly Austin Reaves. 

Reaves experienced a major step-up this season, elevating his game to become a premier scoring guard in the NBA at 23.3 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game and paired with Luka Doncic in the back court, the duo became one of the premier guard combinations in the NBA.

That elevation in his game is why it's likely that Reaves will decline his nearly $15 million player option for the 2026-27 season in pursuit of a longer contract and massive pay increase, something in the $40 million dollar annual range, which will undoubtedly be a massive hit to the Lakers' cap space. 

The Lakers won't be the only contender for Reaves should he enter free agency, with a report by ESPN listing the Brooklyn Nets as another interested team. While the chemistry between Reaves and Doncic has been lauded and maintaining that chemistry would be a plus for the Lakers' continuity, the team has other priorities too.

Namely, reshaping the depth of the team should be one of the Lakers' top priorities. The Lakers rode the outstanding performances of their biggest stars to success throughout the season, but the drop-off in talent going down the roster was a persistent problem throughout the season.

Free agency is the best and most immediate way for the Lakers to address that depth and to do that, the team will need to have as much money available to work with.

Signing Reaves to the kind of contract that he's likely interested in would be a huge road block in picking up the necessary free agents the team needs, even though Reaves himself could be a big contributor.

The Lakers also need to address their less-than-adequate defense, again through picking up new and more defensive minded players. As much of a force as Reaves has been offensively, he wasn't really a factor on the defensive end and putting such a high price tag on a player for one half of the game could work against the Lakers.

Should the Lakers try to go the superstar route of beefing up their team, such as getting in on the trade sweepstakes for either Giannis Antetokounmpo or Kawhi Leonard, they likely would also price themselves out of retaining Reaves as well. 

 Most signs do point toward Reaves staying in Los Angeles, but should the Lakers go in a different, Reaves-less direction, they could leave themselves open to a dramatically different, and possibly deeper, team.