Austin Reeves is playing the best basketball of his career, and the rest of the league is taking notice.
The Los Angeles Lakers guard has been outstanding since the start of the 2025-26 season, averaging 31.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 9.3 assists per game while shooting 48.8% from the field and 34.4% from beyond the arc. His rise has turned what once seemed like a calm contract situation into one of the most talked about storylines in the NBA.
Reeves has the ability to opt out of the final year of his contract this summer, and if his All-Star performance continues, his market will be huge.
The growing interest in Reeves was a hot topic discussed by NBA insider Marc Stein on his All NBA podcast, who said there are already “sharks in the water” monitoring the situation.
“Definitely surveillance, which is interesting — that word makes some people laugh,” Stein said when asked if competitors were circling. “But yes, a lot of people are watching.”
Stein went on to explain the financial landscape shaping up ahead of free agency.
“Again, the problem is, there are teams now that are projected to have cap space,” Stein said. “But as we know, this is an era where everyone is making extensions, teams are making trades, moving players before the February deadline, and they’re using their cap space before they even wait for free agency.
“So, come July 30, we have to see how much cap space we have. At this point, it's expected that a handful of teams will have room, and last summer we didn't. Last summer, we had room in Brooklyn, but the Nets made it clear they weren't going to use it.”
Despite the alliance's growing curiosity, Stein made one thing clear: both sides still want to continue working together.
“I would say the early signals are not just that the Lakers want to keep Austin Reeves, but that Austin Reeves wants to be a Laker,” Stein said. “That's what we're talking about right now.”
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