Lakers guard Austin Reaves, who previously identified the Spurs and Rockets as teams that had some interest in him this offseason, said at this week’s Team USA training camp that his goal when he reached restricted free agency was always, “Get back to L.A.,” as Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes.
[RELATED: Spurs Considered Lucrative Offer Sheet For Austin Reaves]
Signing an offer sheet with another team could have put Reaves in position to earn more than the $54MM over four years he’ll get from the Lakers, who were unable to offer him a higher salary (but could have matched a bigger offer sheet). However, when the two Texas-based teams decided not to seriously pursue him, Reaves was happy to simply re-sign with Los Angeles.
“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.,” he said. “… 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.”
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- The Lakers may prefer to fill their 14th roster spot sooner rather than later, according to Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times, who believes Christian Wood is probably still be the team’s top choice for that opening if he’s willing to sign for the veteran’s minimum. As Woike observes, L.A. could point to examples like Malik Monk and Dennis Schröder to sell Wood on the idea that he’d have the opportunity to thrive with the Lakers for a year on a minimum-salary deal and parlay that performance into a bigger payday.
- Although the Lakers generally deploy Anthony Davis at center in their most important games and minutes, they continue to speak publicly about using lineups that pair him with another big man. Jovan Buha of The Athletic digs into that subject, expressing skepticism that the Lakers will use Davis at power forward alongside a center very often, given the make-up of their roster and the success they’ve had with AD at the five.
- In case you missed it, the big news today in Laker Land is Davis’ three-year, maximum-salary contract extension. We have the full story on that agreement right here.
Wood is going to help someone. ….
Him and AD can work.
But everyone already knows wood is a center afraid of defense. He doesn’t have anywhere near the value he thinks he does, and even playing with a pseudo contender like the lakers isn’t going to change that.
They need to pair AD with a traditional matchup center: McGee, Howard, Biyombo, Meyers Leonard, Ibaka.
To avoid wearing him down at the 5 in the RS.
The John Salleys, Chris Dudleys, Eric Montross’s of the world.
The MVP race is highlighted by big men this year – no matter the small ball. Jokic, Giannis and Embiid.
Get a bruiser!
Wood needs to come to NY. Solid piece to replace OB1