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During the Los Angeles Lakers’ roller-coaster ride of a season, one player who emerged as a revelation was Austin Reaves. The second-year Lakers guard seamlessly filled the Lakers’ needs, consistently making the right basketball plays, hitting clutch shots, and being disruptive on the defensive end.
When the playoffs arrived, Reaves embraced the opportunity to truly showcase his talent, averaging an impressive 16.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 4.6 assists per game on 46.4% shooting from the field to help the Lakers get to the Western Conference Finals.
Reaves has emerged as a highly-sough player entering this year’s free agency following his stellar postseason performance. Despite the considerable demand for the restricted free agent guard, the Lakers have made it clear that they have no intention of letting him slip away and are reportedly willing to match any offer he receives, even if it reaches to a staggering $100 million.
However, not everyone is on board with the Lakers’ decision to go to such great lengths, such as media personality Colin Cowherd. Making an appearance on The Herd, Cowherd openly questioned whether the Lakers are getting delusional in their approach to keep the 25-year old two-way guard.
“The Lakers are a lock to keep Austin Reaves and it could create major cap issues. Mark Stein reports they’ll pay whatever it takes to keep the player they found. Undrafted, the last two years, a nice player for the Lakers. Are the Lakers getting delusional because they find him? Cause he plays well with LeBron, but so did Matthew Dellavedova… If you want to be a max player, you have got to show me max qualities.”
“Are the Lakers getting delusional because they found him?”
— @ColinCowherd plays the blind resume game with Austin Reaves pic.twitter.com/CAqw51WYEI
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) June 28, 2023
