The Lakers locked down Austin Reaves on Wednesday with a four-year, $185 million max contract. The move keeps the 26-year-old guard off the open market and solidifies a backcourt pairing with Luka Doncic that the front office clearly views as the long-term play.
But Skip Bayless took the news in a different direction. He saw it as a signal about LeBron James.
“Good for the Lakers keeping Austin Reaves off the open market next week by giving him the max. They’ve made Luka the Face of the Franchise so they needed to lock up his best buddy. Now they have even less reason to pay LeBron,” Bayless wrote on X.
LeBron is set to hit free agency next week. Most league insiders still expect him back in Los Angeles on another deal. But Bayless’ point — whether you agree with it or not — taps into a real tension: at 41 years old, about to turn 42, James is still elite, but the Lakers have already handed the keys to Doncic and Reaves.
From a roster-building standpoint, the math gets weird. Doncic and Reaves together give you a ton of offense. They can both create shots, both handle the ball, both get buckets in different ways. But defensively, that backcourt is a problem. Neither guy is a plus defender, and LeBron at this stage is not what he used to be on that end either. So if you’re paying three guys max or near-max money and none of them can consistently guard anyone on the perimeter, where does that leave you?
The Lakers still have cap flexibility this offseason. They made a small draft-night move trading with the Knicks to bring in Cameron Carr, a wing prospect with some intriguing tools. They also have the taxpayer mid-level exception to play with. But the core question is whether they want to commit major money to LeBron on a multiyear deal while already being locked into Doncic and Reaves.
Some fans online pushed back on Bayless’ take, pointing out that LeBron just averaged 25 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists last season. He’s not a guy you just let walk. But the counterargument is that teams have let Hall of Famers walk before when the timing and money didn’t line up.
Free agency officially opens June 30. The Lakers and LeBron have been dancing around this decision for months. Now they have a clearer picture of what their payroll looks like with Reaves locked in. Whether that pushes them toward or away from LeBron — we’ll know soon enough.
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