4 Offseason moves the Lakers must make to win the West next season

2. Re-sign Austin Reaves

Over the last two years, Austin Reaves completely and utterly transformed himself and his reputation. Reaves went from and end-of-the-bench guy to a crucial piece of a Western Conference Finals team. What he brings to the court is defensive tenacity and dynamic scoring. At times, he was an even better bet than Lebron to run the pick-and-roll offense. He was cooking.

As for what options the Lakers have, it’s a little complicated but they should be able to keep him. Reaves is currently on an expiring minimum contract going into restricted free agency. Currently, the Lakers could extend him, via early Bird rights, to what is projected to be a four-year, $50.8 million deal. For the player that Reaves proved himself to be, that’s too low.

The much more likely scenario would involve another team offering Reaves a deal, which the Lakers would then match. The contract would look a little strange through something called ‘the Arenas provision.’ Basically, it backloads a contract so that the team with the early Bird rights can afford to keep the player if they have salary cap restrictions.

That contract for Revaes would aggregate to four years, $98.67 million. A much more realistic number. For the Lakers, that shouldn’t be too hard and they’ll most likely match before the other team’s offersheet’s ink is dry.