The Los Angeles Lakers plan to offer restricted free agent Austin Reaves a four-year, $52 million deal, sources told ESPN on Friday.
The 6-foot-5 guard had a breakout campaign in his second year in the league, flirting with 50/40/90 shooting averages to go along with 13 points, 3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.
In the Lakers' final 11 regular-season games as they chased a spot in the play-in tournament, Reaves averaged 19.8 points and 6.1 assists while shooting 58% from the field. L.A. went 9-2 and ended up with the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference.
Reaves, 25, continued that production in the playoffs, averaging 16.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists while starting all 16 postseason games during L.A.'s run to the Western Conference finals.
Reaves went undrafted out of Oklahoma in 2021. He was originally signed by the Lakers to a two-way deal in the summer before having his contract converted to a guaranteed roster spot shortly before training camp.
Retaining Reaves was part of the plan that Lakers vice president of basketball operations and general manager Rob Pelinka laid out to reporters before the team conducted its exit interviews, declaring, "I would say this resoundingly clear: Our intentions are to keep our core of young guys together."
Reaves is on track to have an eventful summer as he will play for Team USA in the FIBA World Cup in the Philippines in August, with exhibition games planned in Las Vegas, Spain and the United Arab Emirates prior to the tournament.
Also Friday, the Lakers reached an agreement to sign free agent forward Taurean Prince. The deal is for one year and $4.5 million, his agents, Steven Heumann and Richie Beda of CAA Basketball, told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Prince spent the past two seasons with Minnesota and averaged 9.1 points in 2022-23.
