Austin Reaves Discussion: How Much Is He Worth?

This is rich. The irony of this coming from someone who said others are having a circlejerk just one page back.

 

Yep. I don't mind the armchair quarterbacking, errr uhhh, point guarding, I just hate it when people start thinking it matters more than it does and denigrate others. I don't really give a hoot what anyone says or thinks as long as they don't beat everyone over the head with it. When I get pissed at people, it is not because of their ideas, it is because of their BS delivery style.

 

I think everyone has the same opinion, AR got more than anyone wanted. But it is what it is, Trae also got overpaid this summer. It happens all the time.

I don't think it's an albatross contract and is aligned with the current market. We all wanted a discount but that rarely happens. It's also quite largely accepted that ideally we wouldn't build around Luka/AR, I'd rather have someone like Barnes but it's not happening and this is the cards we have.

It's not good news, people are frustrated but I also don't see what else there is to discuss. Some think the franchise is doomed and this contract is the worst in history, others are more in gray areas, like myself, and at this point only time will tell how this contract will play out.

Bottom line is we needed to keep AR. We did. Good. The interesting part of the offseason is what we do with the center and wing position

 

I agree we could have negotiated more. But AR was an UFA so it was a big gamble. I really thought he would give us something around 35-40 but at the end of the day it's a business and AR did what was best for him.
I don't think it would be smart to play games and low balling your 2nd star to save 5-10mil a year. There's a chance that goes wrong and we'd be in a very bad position.
We now have Luka/AR locked, that's already a playoff team and now it's a matter if we can push it towards the top contenders

 

which is my thing with the guy I was beefing with today.

I tried to be cool and not get personal and say that his opinion was fine, and then he kept getting more personal about things and I’m like “Yo, don’t @ me right now.”

I feel bad, but like…I tried to be cool the whole time.

anyways, I forget that we have generations of people here and some are HARDCORE and some have gotten more passive while still being serious.

 

There is a certain group around here that will remain anonymous and can get a certain way when disagreed with but overall this is typically a peaceful respectful place. No pot stirring for me...lol.

 

Can’t read this now but the headline says AR thought it was over with the Lakers. Like one full week of talks.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/73...unlocked_article_code=1.slA.fhBL.W2BqHRpjgX5u

 

I don’t have a problem with Reaves’ contract, he is going to be worth the money this contract. But to me it’s clear, his agent is angling for an opt out in 3 years and 30% of the cap which would be a 70m per year contract then.

That is what it is. Luka at the 35% super max and Reaves at the 30% max isn’t a recipe for a contender imo. So we have 3 years to contend, and I don’t know how much progress we are going to make this offseason to get towards a contender. So I think effectively we can get 1 ring with this core before the finances catch up.

Another thing the full max means is, once we pay Lebron, we won’t really have much space for even trades bringing back something solid with Vando, Knecht, Ayton etc.

I’m excited to see what happens, but it’s threading a needle right now.

 

I think we should take a second to acknowledge that this is the biggest contract signed by an undrafted player in league history. I have some doubts about how things play out over the next few years, but Austin is already one of the bigger success stories in recent NBA history. That 2021-2022 season was so miserable, he was really the one good thing that came out of it. I still remember that last game of the 2022 regular season @Denver when he had a 30 point triple double. An awful, awful season of basketball to watch, but it was capped off by an awesome performance from Austin that signaled where we were going.

The great irony of that 2021 summer was that we blew up the championship team core because we thought we needed more on-ball and perimeter creation (which was right, we did need that), but the guy that brought that wasn't Russ. It was Austin. I still think about how the last few years would have gone if we had just kept KCP, kept Kuzma, kept Caruso and brought in Austin and Monk like we did that summer anyway.

 

What if we weren't co-violaters but co-people?

 

It’s clear by the article that losing Reaves was a real possibility.

Maybe this is nitpicking but is annyone else a little annoyed like me? Reaves said in his exit interview he wanted to be here and it wasn’t about the money. But his agents basically said if it’s not a max we’re gone. And then they even got the player option.

To me it’s not insulting if a team asks for an option, OKC does it with everyone…

 

So the complaining about our in house success story is still going on?
Man, some people will always be negative, no matter what.
I have chosen to celebrate one of the greatest rags to riches stories we’ve ever witnessed in Lakerland.
Some in here would have a mansion in Hawaii overlooking one of the best surf spots on the planet and still complain that their neighbor has a larger private beach than them.
SMH.

 

“Violator” is still a great album.

 

words like violence have definitely come crashing into my little world (this thread)

 

For sure. I'll keep it when we're bounced out of the second round next year.