Los Angeles Lakers Rumors: 3 Teams Poised To Poach Austin Reaves

The Los Angeles Lakers season ended in the Conference Finals, but for Austin Reaves, the fun is just beginning. The undrafted sensation made himself a lot of money in these playoffs, breaking through as the Lakers' third-best player, averaging 21.3 points, 5.3 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game in the Conference Finals.

Now he's a restricted free agent, and though he definitely wants to continue to write his Cinderella story in Hollywood, the Lakers are restricted to offering him a 4-year deal worth about $50M. Other teams can offer Reaves about twice that—up to $98M. 

The Lakers say they'll match any offer that comes in, but rumors have several teams poised to put a huge contract in front of Reaves in the form of an offer sheet. And as one rival GM put it: “All it takes is one team who wants to f*** the Lakers.”

Well, we've got three who have the cap space to do just that:

Houston Rockets

The first team that would be happy to poach Reaves from the Lakers would be the Houston Rockets. They have "very real interest in bringing Reaves onboard", per Rockets Insider Kelly Iko. 

The Rockets will be aggressive this offseason in seriously upgrading their talent level under new coach Ime Udoka. With about $60 million in cap space, they've got the funds to do it.

San Antonio Spurs

Across the state, the Spurs will be on a big upward trajectory this season, thanks to their lottery luck, and the impending addition of generational talent Victor Wembanyama in the NBA Draft. 

But Wemby won't be able to do it alone. The Spurs will be willing to spend some of their close to $50M in cap space to add more talent around him, and they'll have interest in Reaves.

Orlando Magic

Yet another team with cap room galore this summer, the Magic have been looking for a player with Reaves' off-guard skillset. They have plenty of smaller lead guards, and big men a-plenty, but the 6'5" super sophomore would fit perfectly on their roster. They've already been linked to some big names in free agency, so don't sleep on the Magic pulling off a big move.

Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports