RealGM

Austin Reaves is a fairly contentious player on RealGM. Laker fans overvalue him, Laker haters undervalue him, i'm just curious what his next contract will likely be.

He was on a steal of a deal 4yr/50mil (4th yr PO) but now he's entering his 3rd year and he's 100% gonna opt out to get paid. He already turned down a 4yr/90mil extension offer. Interestingly enough, with the way how offense only gunners trade values have plummetted in recent years (Powell, McCollum, Herro, Dame, etc), i actually think 4yr/90mil is around his true market value and he'll be lucky to get anything over that.

Trade value wise, i know his value is very low, his contract uncertainty pretty much kills it, as he's not some clearcut #1/2 option that deserves to be paid 30+ mil a year. I did get a surge of hope when Bane fetched his crazy package, but lately its clear that offense only gunners are NOT valued around the league anymore (and rightly so). Next offseason there arent that many teams with cap space, so CAN Reaves get himself a deal better than 4/90? Reaves is a fine player but is any team gonna be foollish enough to toss 25mil+ a year deal at him? With how brutal the 2nd Apron rules are, GMs gotta be extra judicious with how they spend their precious cap. New CBA rules make S&Ts an utter paid to execute, so that further destroys markets for players like Reaves.

Do we know he can't be a legit 2 options? He played behind too ball dominant players essentially his whole career. His stats when LeBron doesn't play always increases.

I think some team will take the risk he can grow with more opportunities

Given the market on offensive guards who get picked on defensively, given he’s expiring, 1 lotto or top 10 protected 1st on trade market

Edit this isn’t a trade value thread

Contract wise, it entirely depends on the years. I’d say 3/60 would be a good get for him. He’s not young enough for the “potential” boost, he’s not good enough defensively, or over the top elite offensively to give a serious contract.

His contract was limited to roughly 10% of the cap, 15% of the cap is ~25, which should be his deal.
He's not Monk/Powell/Sexton, he's a PG, who did well in short stints as 1st option on ball guy, none of these can dream of that, he is terrible on defense though.

Vae Victus wrote:Austin Reaves is a fairly contentious player on RealGM. Laker fans overvalue him, Laker haters undervalue him, i'm just curious what his next contract will likely be.

He was on a steal of a deal 4yr/50mil (4th yr PO) but now he's entering his 3rd year and he's 100% gonna opt out to get paid. He already turned down a 4yr/90mil extension offer. Interestingly enough, with the way how offense only gunners trade values have plummetted in recent years (Powell, McCollum, Herro, Dame, etc), i actually think 4yr/90mil is around his true market value and he'll be lucky to get anything over that.

Trade value wise, i know his value is very low, his contract uncertainty pretty much kills it, as he's not some clearcut #1/2 option that deserves to be paid 30+ mil a year. I did get a surge of hope when Bane fetched his crazy package, but lately its clear that offense only gunners are NOT valued around the league anymore (and rightly so). Next offseason there arent that many teams with cap space, so CAN Reaves get himself a deal better than 4/90? Reaves is a fine player but is any team gonna be foollish enough to toss 25mil+ a year deal at him? With how brutal the 2nd Apron rules are, GMs gotta be extra judicious with how they spend their precious cap. New CBA rules make S&Ts an utter paid to execute, so that further destroys markets for players like Reaves.

TBH he isn't worth $15 + mill a year, but he will get it.

Washington could throw lots of money at him. i think he makes more than 25M easily consider naz reid can get that much

Probably signs a deal around 5/150 with the Lakers.

He's cheap to salary match and provides quality offense in RS and playoffs. 20-5-5 guy. The defense is fine, not often targeted.

zimpy27 wrote:Probably signs a deal around 5/150 with the Lakers.

He's cheap to salary match and provides quality offense in RS and playoffs. 20-5-5 guy. The defense is fine, not often targeted.

I agree - I think he'll get an AAV of 30M per - so yeah 4/120 or 5/150

Free agency is always funny because guys get paid what the most optimistic GM projects, not the average. Somebody might well pay him $25M/yr but I think most have him $15-$20

I think paying Reaves 30M on a team that already has the sometimes-picked-on Luka on defense would be foolish.

I would cash him out and try to flip something like Vandy + Dalton for Grayson Allen.

Just not sure what the package is for him. I may be way off but I wonder if PHI would do a McCain for Reaves swap. PHI goes away from a tiny backcourt, LAL gets a nice off ball fit for Luka on a rookie scale to maximize cap space in 26 or 27.

Godaddycurse wrote:Washington could throw lots of money at him. i think he makes more than 25M easily consider naz reid can get that much

But WHY would WAS do that? They already got CJ McCollum under contract and having multiple offensive focused players with suspect defense before they even have a legit #1/2 option in place seems foolhardy to me. Players like Reaves are luxuries that are nice to have and great to fill around the edges once you have your core in place IMHO.

zimpy27 wrote:Probably signs a deal around 5/150 with the Lakers.

He's cheap to salary match and provides quality offense in RS and playoffs. 20-5-5 guy. The defense is fine, not often targeted.

At a 5/150 deal, that's no longer a cheap deal to match. That in my opinion kills his market value much like how Lauri Markkenen isnt so hot stuff anymore at 30% of the cap.

That's like low quality #2 option or elite #3 option type of money (20ish% of cap). Reaves as a #2 option feels very suboptimal from a team building standpoint and for a #3 option, i either want supreme skillset at least one core ability (shooting or defense) with above avg spread of skills in other parts of the game. It's what made prime Klay Thompson the BEST #3 option of all time behind Steph, KD and a great #2 option behind Steph (all time shooting ability, excellent D). OKC/BOS has shown the best blueprint to follow in that you want your good players able to D up as well as provide offense requisite of their salary levels. Offense only gunners really are a drag on a team unless their offense is THAT efficient, or their salary levels are low enough to still keep the team stocked with defenders who can hit open shots.

Vae Victus wrote:

Godaddycurse wrote:Washington could throw lots of money at him. i think he makes more than 25M easily consider naz reid can get that much

But WHY would WAS do that? They already got Poole under contract and having multiple offensive focused players with suspect defense before they even have a legit #1/2 option in place seems foolhardy to me. Players like Reaves are luxuries that are nice to have and great to fill around the edges once you have your core in place IMHO.

zimpy27 wrote:Probably signs a deal around 5/150 with the Lakers.

He's cheap to salary match and provides quality offense in RS and playoffs. 20-5-5 guy. The defense is fine, not often targeted.

At a 5/150 deal, that's no longer a cheap deal to match. That in my opinion kills his market value much like how Lauri Markkenen isnt so hot stuff anymore at 30% of the cap.

That's like low quality #2 option or elite #3 option type of money (20ish% of cap). Reaves as a #2 option feels very suboptimal from a team building standpoint and for a #3 option, i either want supreme skillset at least one core ability (shooting or defense) with above avg spread of skills in other parts of the game. It's what made prime Klay Thompson the BEST #3 option of all time behind Steph, KD and a great #2 option behind Steph (all time shooting ability, excellent D). OKC/BOS has shown the best blueprint to follow in that you want your good players able to D up as well as provide offense requisite of their salary levels. Offense only gunners really are a drag on a team unless their offense is THAT efficient, or their salary levels are low enough to still keep the team stocked with defenders who can hit open shots.

Poole on the pelicans. They have cj McCollum.

kobe_vs_jordan wrote:Poole on the pelicans. They have cj McCollum.

Thank you, corrected. These offensive only gunners all bleed together to me. I see Reaves as more in line with those types, they're not high impact winning players, and its why im so leery of paying Reaves big money. Luka being suspect on D himself (whether due to fatigue or lack of effort) is also the other huge factor why Lakers need to prioritize defenders.

Vae Victus wrote:

kobe_vs_jordan wrote:Poole on the pelicans. They have cj McCollum.

Thank you, corrected. These offensive only gunners all bleed together to me. I see Reaves as more in line with those types, they're not high impact winning players, and its why im so leery of paying Reaves big money. Luka being suspect on D himself (whether due to fatigue or lack of effort) is also the other huge factor why Lakers need to prioritize defenders.

CJ expires after this year and is old. Reaves can lead their young roster. a good PG does wonder for others. see what FVV did to houston

Mavrelous wrote:His contract was limited to roughly 10% of the cap, 15% of the cap is ~25, which should be his deal.
He's not Monk/Powell/Sexton, he's a PG, who did well in short stints as 1st option on ball guy, none of these can dream of that, he is terrible on defense though.

I’ve never seen him this way, he's strictly a 2 in my eyes. Sexton, Reaves, and Simons rank 68th, 71st, and 72nd respectively in AST%. What am I missing?

Of the huntable scoring guard archetype he's one of the best of the bunch, but I think we'll continue to see the value of those guys continue to diminish. Booker might be the best and I think his contract is already aging like milk.

I'd be surprised if he doesnt get at least 30 mill. Think he gets offers like that from Utah/Portland/Chicago/Washington who all have the money to spend and all of whom should be looking to be competitive in 2026/2027.

If youre paying Reaves/Luka 90 mill combined, doesnt that kill the 2027 cap space plan? It really does make their decision this offseason far more odd. This might be the last time in a while that you have a top 15ish player with Luka and a very good 3rd option. I get that Luka is still young and you want future flexibility, but this may be their best chance over the next 5 years...they shoulda capitalized on it a lot more than they did

ThatBoyNick wrote:Given the market on offensive guards who get picked on defensively, given he’s expiring, 1 lotto or top 10 protected 1st on trade market

Edit this isn’t a trade value thread

Contract wise, it entirely depends on the years. I’d say 3/60 would be a good get for him. He’s not young enough for the “potential” boost, he’s not good enough defensively, or over the top elite offensively to give a serious contract.

Reaves is not a one-dimensional buckets only guard. He's not as bad defensively and he's a very good playmaker. He should get more than guys like Sexton, Cam Thomas, Jordan Poole, etc. Definitely more than 3/60.

Billl wrote:Free agency is always funny because guys get paid what the most optimistic GM projects, not the average. Somebody might well pay him $25M/yr but I think most have him $15-$20

That's literally how fair market value works. When you receive a bunch of bids, you don't pick the median bid you pick the highest. Do you think people sell for the averaged amount of all offers when they put their houses on the market? What you think is funny is just the most ordinary thing.

Billl wrote:Free agency is always funny because guys get paid what the most optimistic GM projects, not the average. Somebody might well pay him $25M/yr but I think most have him $15-$20

You are literally describing fair market value.

This is how literally everything works in capitalism.

SkyHook wrote:

Mavrelous wrote:His contract was limited to roughly 10% of the cap, 15% of the cap is ~25, which should be his deal.
He's not Monk/Powell/Sexton, he's a PG, who did well in short stints as 1st option on ball guy, none of these can dream of that, he is terrible on defense though.

I’ve never seen him this way, he's strictly a 2 in my eyes. Sexton, Reaves, and Simons rank 68th, 71st, and 72nd respectively in AST%. What am I missing?

Of the huntable scoring guard archetype he's one of the best of the bunch, but I think we'll continue to see the value of those guys continue to diminish. Booker might be the best and I think his contract is already aging like milk.

Sexton is ranked 68th on a team with no true playmaker. Simons is 72nd on a team with a very raw playmaker. Reaves was 71st playing behind Luka and LeBron. Absolutely not apples to apples.