The Lakers, like every other NBA team, have roster questions they must address in the offseason. Two of the more pressing concerns for the Los Angeles Lakers are Austin Reaves and LeBron James and their potential future with the team.
James is a free agent and Reeves has a $14,898,786 player option for the last year of a 4-year, $53,827,872 deal.
Although the team has indicated they would like to have both players back in the fold, according to NBA reporter who covers the Lakers, Jovan Buha.
“If it comes down to would you rather pay Austin 40 million for the next five years or LeBron 40 million for one year, they’re going to prioritize the long-term contract here. Austin is more of a priority for the Lakers than LeBron is. That’s just a fact.”
This line of thinking may be appalling to the LeSychophant , but it makes perfect sense from both a financial and a basketball standpoint.
Although LeBron is still putting up numbers, he is 41 and will turn 42 during the season. It would not only be a financial derilction of duty to divert significant monetary resources to the basketball Methuselah, but would also hamstrung the team in terms of being able to significantly upgrade the roster.
Reaves is much younger than James and at 28 he is more chronically aligned the timeline of the new sheriff in town, Luka Dončić, who is 27. Additionally, as was seen in those first 14 games sans LeBron James, Reaves and Luka as a pairing work very well together. The two led the team to a 10-4 record and Reaves was playing at an All-NBA level, averaging 28.5 points, 6.7 assists and 5.9 rebounds on .516/.348/.879 splits.
