The Brooklyn Nets are hoping to make significant improvements to the roster this offseason after ending the 2025-26 NBA season with a lowly 20-62 record that put them in position for the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. While Brooklyn ended up with the No. 6 pick, they can still select a talented player to potentially pair with Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves.
“He bet on himself, he stands to make five-years, $241 million from the Lakers, if they offer him that deal. Or, if he goes to a team at Chicago or a team like Brooklyn, can get four-years, $178 million,” Brad Turner of Spectrum Sportsnet said of Reaves. Turned laid out what Reaves is looking at this summer as a free-agent as he stands to make the most money by getting the max with the Lakers, but he might go elsewhere if Los Angeles is trying to convince LeBron James to stay as well.
“Those teams will kind of lurk around, but based on what I understand, what I keep hearing, Austin wants the max,” Turned continued on Reaves. “Is he willing to give the Lakers a home time deal? I’m not so sure about that. Maybe he does, but maybe his reps don’t want to because their job is to get him the maximum he can.”
With the Nets expected to be one of just a few teams to have the salary cap space to pay a player of Reaves’ price range, it will be interesting to see if they would be willing to pay him the max. Brooklyn could practically free up around $48 million this offseason, but if they give Reaves the max, he would be making $44.5 million per year, essentially eating up most of the available cap space.
At that point, the conversation for Brooklyn centers around whether Reaves is the answer to the Nets getting back to competing for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference as soon as possible. Reaves, 28, is coming off the best season of his five-year career as he’s averaging 23.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 1.1 steals per game while shooting 49.0% from the field and 36.0% from behind the three-point line in 51 games played.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets may have to pay Lakers’ Austin Reaves the max in free-agency
Reporting by Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire / Nets Wire
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By Sharif Phillips-Keaton, Nets Wire | USA TODAY Network
