Los Angeles Lakers fans were able to rest easy this offseason after Austin Reaves signed a long-term extension to stick with the purple and gold. But in the weeks leading up to NBA free agency, there were serious concerns about a rival team potentially offering Reaves a deal he could not refuse. The San Antonio Spurs were rumored to be one such team.
The rebuilding Spurs opened the 2023 offseason with nearly $40 million in cap space and not much reason to spend it. However, adding a young player like Reaves made some sense given San Antonio’s timeline. The team also needed to spend $26.1 million in order to reach the salary cap floor of $122.4 million or else risk facing league penalties. Why not splurge on a 25-year-old like Reaves and hurt the rival Lakers in the process?
According to Lakers reporter Jovan Buha of The Athletic, the Spurs actually did consider two separate contract offers for Reaves: one for $60 million over three years and another for $100 million over four years. However, the Spurs reportedly did not push through with a Reaves offer because of the Lakers’ insistence that they would match any deal for their guard.
Reaves was a restricted free agent, which gave the Lakers the final say in matching whatever free agency offer sheet he signed. Reaves ended up signing for much less than the rumored Spurs offers — $56 million over four years to stay in Los Angeles.
While it seems silly for the Spurs not to have taken the risk on Reaves regardless, NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement rules made the decision more complicated. The Lakers would have had seven days to decide on whether to match the Spurs’ hypothetical offer. By rule, general manager Rob Pelinka could have waited until the very last minute of the seventh day to match the offer.
The Spurs’ cap space used for a Reaves offer would have remained in limbo for the entire span until the Lakers decided to match or not, leaving San Antonio hamstrung during the initial rush of NBA free agency that began on June 30th.
The Spurs instead focused their attention on leveraging their 2023 offseason cap space for future assets, including a 2030 first-round pick swap with the Dallas Mavericks. Reaves ended up signing his extension with the Lakers on July 1st.
