{"id":145081,"date":"2025-06-16T18:37:20","date_gmt":"2025-06-16T22:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=145081"},"modified":"2025-06-16T18:37:20","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T22:37:20","slug":"austin-reaves-goal-retire-with-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/06\/16\/austin-reaves-goal-retire-with-lakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Lakers Star Reveals Future Goals Amid Offseason Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lakers standout guard <\/span>Austin Reaves<\/span><\/a> has captured fans\u2019 attention with regards to his future with the franchise. The 27-year-old guard is coming off the best season of his career and now faces an intriguing dilemma: sign a four-year extension or enter free agency next summer.<\/span><\/p>\n

While co-hosting an annual basketball camp alongside his brother, Reaves offered his perspective on the Lakers\u2019 future and his own, providing an encouraging update for fans who want him to stick around beyond next season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lakers Star Reveals Future Goals Amid Offseason Rumors<\/b><\/h2>\n

Reaves Wants to Retire a Laker<\/b><\/h3>\n

In an interview with Arkansas news outlet KAIT, <\/span>Reaves reiterated his goal to stay in LA<\/span><\/a>, though acknowledged he doesn\u2019t control the situation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>At this point, it\u2019s not in my control. I want to be in LA. If they want to trade me, then we\u2019ll start something new somewhere else. But like I said, I want to be in LA. I want to play my whole career in LA. I love it there. I love the fans. Love the weather, love the golf. And obviously the Lakers is the best organization in basketball. So, I don\u2019t pay attention to [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<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Reaves\u2019 ambition of donning purple and gold for life is laudable, as he hopes to become the seventh Laker to spend his entire career with the franchise (<\/span>Kobe Bryant<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Jerry West<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Elgin Baylor<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Magic Johnson<\/span><\/a>, <\/span>Michael Cooper<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>James Worthy<\/span><\/a>). President and GM Rob Pelinka has affirmed his confidence in the Lakers\u2019 big three, and <\/span>previous reports<\/span><\/a> indicated the team\u2019s reluctance to part ways with <\/span>Reaves<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Suffice it to say, Reaves and the Lakers appear to be on the same page. However, the next few months and upcoming season will be vital for the partnership between both sides.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jan
Jan 23, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) dribbles the ball against the Boston Celtics at the Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reaves’ Trade Value in Question After Major Offseason Move<\/b><\/h3>\n

After the <\/span>Magic and Grizzlies<\/span><\/a> agreed to a head-scratching haul for <\/span>Desmond Bane<\/span><\/a>, some Laker <\/span>fans<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>writers<\/span><\/a> began to question what Reaves could net if he were ever placed on the trade market.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spoiler alert: it wouldn\u2019t be the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reaves will earn $13.9 million next season on an expiring contract before crunch time comes next summer. Bane\u2019s current deal won\u2019t wrap up until 2029, when he earns\u2014you\u2019re reading this right\u2014$44.8 million.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Magic guard\u2019s exorbitant contract compared with Reaves\u2019 team-friendly deal is the <\/span>main reason<\/span><\/a> why fans shouldn\u2019t expect a king\u2019s ransom if the Lakers dealt their third best player. If anything, as Silver Screen & Roll\u2019s Jacob Rude argues, it should be an incentive to hang onto Reaves and re-sign him to a long-term contract. <\/span>Current rumors<\/span><\/a> suggest that deal won\u2019t come right away. But even if fans must wait for Reaves to put pen to paper once more, there\u2019s no doubt it will be a worthy investment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reaves has quite a while to decide on his future plans. That choice, along with rumors of <\/span>Luka Doncic<\/span><\/a>\u2019s <\/span>extension<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>LeBron James<\/span><\/a>\u2019 <\/span>future<\/span><\/a>, make this offseason one that could test the purple and gold\u2019s patience.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Petre Thomas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lakers standout guard Austin Reaves has captured fans\u2019 attention with regards to his future with the franchise. The 27-year-old guard is coming off the best season of his career and now faces an intriguing dilemma: sign a four-year extension or enter free agency next summer. While co-hosting an annual basketball camp alongside his brother, Reaves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4265,"featured_media":145083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,26,62,3,4721],"tags":[4556,3127,38,1133,759],"class_list":["post-145081","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-lakers","category-nba","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-austin-reaves","tag-desmond-bane","tag-lebron-james","tag-luka-doncic","tag-rob-pelinka"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145081"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145081\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":145089,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145081\/revisions\/145089"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}