The two big dominoes to fall as far as the Los Angeles Lakers‘ offseason plans are the decisions LeBron James and Austin Reaves make in free agency. Reaves is almost certainly going to opt out of his contract this summer, and while many, if not most, expect him to agree to a new deal to stay with the Lakers, the question is how much money he will demand.
There won’t be many teams with salary cap space this summer, but it will only take one such team to make Reaves a big offer to put the Lakers in a difficult situation. Per Bobby Marks of ESPN, the star guard is expected to receive “something in the range of five years, $200 million” and that the Brooklyn Nets could make a run at him.
“One potential bidder to watch this summer, sources said, is the Brooklyn Nets, who will enter the offseason with more than enough salary cap space to accommodate a max-type player,” wrote Tim Bontemps.
It is hard to imagine Reaves joining the Nets, who went 20-62 this season and will likely be one of the NBA’s worst teams again next season. But they could put pressure on the Lakers to pay Reaves more than they may feel comfortable paying him.
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He averaged 23.3 points on 49% overall shooting and 36% 3-point shooting, plus 5.5 assists a game during the regular season, but in a continuation of a trend that has taken shape over the last couple of years, he was inconsistent during the playoffs. But he became L.A.’s second scoring option this year, and losing him in free agency for nothing would be a huge blow to the franchise.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Report: Nets could make a run at Austin Reaves