![\"Austin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-1779343171-e1755126939328.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat drives to the basket past LeBron James and Austin Reaves of the Los Angeles Lakers. <\/p>\n
Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> homegrown star Austin Reaves<\/a> will be looking to cash in next summer after he declined the Lakers\u2019 four-year, $89.2 million offer earlier this offseason.<\/p>\n According to NBC Sports\u2019 Kurt Helin<\/a>, Reaves wants to be paid \u201cin the Tyler Herro<\/a> range of $30 million a year (and Herro is a good comp in a lot of ways).\u201d<\/p>\n Herro, the 13th overall pick in 2019, signed a rookie-scale extension worth $130 million over four years in 2022. He has since blossomed into an All-Star as the Miami Heat<\/a>\u2018s leading scorer and playmaker last season.<\/p>\n Two years older than Herro, Reaves could have been that leading scorer, playmaker type of player on a bad-to-fringe play-in team. Last season, Reaves was the clear-cut third-best player on the Lakers roster behind LeBron James<\/a> and Anthony Davis<\/a>, who was later swapped for Luka Doncic<\/a>.<\/p>\n Austin Reaves Vows to Be Better in Contract Year<\/p>\n Reaves\u2019 role for next season remains the same, with James, also on a contract year, still playing at an All-NBA level and with Doncic projected to be an MVP candidate with his much-ballyhooed slimmed-down body.<\/p>\n \u201cIf Reaves shows this season that he can be a high-level scorer next to Luka Doncic and can step up his game in the playoffs, the Lakers gladly will pay that much to keep him (and Reaves will want to stay). However, if he struggles again in the playoffs, the Lakers \u2014 who will have a lot of cap space \u2014 may question whether that is the best way to spend their money,\u201d Helin wrote.<\/p>\n Getty Austin Reaves vows to be better next season.<\/p>\n Reaves averaged 16.2 points, on 41.1% overall shooting and 31.9% from the 3-point arc, 3.6 assists against 2.8 turnovers in their five-game loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round.<\/p>\n It was a big letdown from Reaves, who averaged a career-best 20.2 points on 46% overall shooting and 37.7% from the 3-point line, 4.8 assists against 2.2 turnovers in the regular season.<\/p>\n Reaves vows to be better for the Lakers next season. Asked about his plans on how to better complement the Lakers\u2019 star duo, Reaves had a straightforward answer.<\/p>\n \u201cJust play better,\u201d \u00a0Reaves told reporters<\/a> after their playoff exit. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m talented enough to do that. As I feel like I\u2019ve proved over and over again throughout my whole life.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are millions of people who would have never known me if I were never in this position, because quite frankly, nobody thought I was ever going to be in this position. So, I\u2019ve continued to prove myself over and over again, and I\u2019m going to go to work and do the same thing next year. That\u2019s really it.\u201d<\/p>\n Laker for Life?<\/p>\n Reaves will be eligible for 25% of the Lakers\u2019 or any team\u2019s salary cap in the 2026-27 season if he opts out of the final year of his contract and becomes an unrestricted free agent after next season.<\/p>\n By ESPN\u2019s front office insider Bobby Marks\u2019 calculation<\/a>, Reaves\u2019 first-year starting salary in a max contract next offseason would be a staggering $42.5 million, more than Herro\u2019s annual salary.<\/p>\n Will the Lakers offer the full maximum? That\u2019s the biggest question that awaits an answer next summer.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, both sides are motivated to get a deal done next summer, according to ESPN\u2019s Dave McMenamin<\/a>.<\/p>\n Reaves, who will earn just $13.9 million next season, has been clear about his desire to remain a Laker for life.<\/p>\n \u201cI love the fans. I Love the weather, love the golf. And obviously, the Lakers are the best organization in basketball,\u201d\u00a0Reaves said<\/a>\u00a0at his June youth camp. \u201cI don\u2019t pay attention to [the trade rumors]. I keep my head down, work, and I feel like that\u2019s one of the reasons I\u2019m where I\u2019m at.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAlder Almo<\/a> is a sports journalist covering the NBA for Heavy.com. He has more than 20 years of experience in local and international media, including broadcast, print and digital. He previously covered the Knicks for Empire Sports Media and the NBA for Off the Glass. Alder is from the Philippines and is now based in Jersey City, New Jersey. More about Alder Almo<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lakers\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Tyler Herro of the Miami Heat drives to the basket past LeBron James and Austin Reaves of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68030,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-68029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Austin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/GettyImages-2210094800-e1746393622412.jpg\")
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