Refusing to renew the contract in advance! How much is the contract worth now?

Reeves, I have an idea. According to reports from TA Lakers' reporter Dan Woike, league sources revealed that Reeves officially rejected the Lakers' four-year, 89.2 million early contract renewal this week. The

message was quite sudden, but not surprising at all.

Reeves signed a four-year, 53.8 million contract with the Lakers in 2023. There are two years left in this contract, with salaries of 13.94 million and 14.9 million (player option), respectively, and can become a free agent as early as next year.

According to the labor-management agreement, the starting salary for a new contract that is renewed early can only be 140% of the last year of the old contract. So, don’t look at the Lakers who only offer 89.2 million in four years, this is the largest contract they can give now.

Of course, it is normal for Reeves to have ideas.

Let's put it this way, in the 2022-23 season, the second-year Reeves handed over 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists in the regular season. At that time, the Spurs wanted to use 84 million to poach Reeves in four years.

However, because Reeves is a restricted free agent, the Lakers say that they will match any contract (during the Spurs' quotation to the Lakers' matching, the Spurs' space will be locked and no other signings will be made), the Spurs finally chose to give up.

Then the Lakers stayed with Reeves for 53.8 million in four years. It should be noted that because Reeves lost the draft and only played for two years without having the full bird rights. 53.8 million in four years was already the biggest contract the Lakers could give at that time.

Even so, you can see that two years ago, Reeves was already a player worth 20 million, but he had to "reduce his salary" due to the rules.

Looking at this season, Reeves' performance has obviously improved a lot compared to two years ago.

In the regular season, Reeves played a total of 73 games, averaging 20.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists per game. The shooting percentages of the three events were 46.0%/37.7%/87.7%, and the real shooting percentage was 61.6%. His scoring and assists ranked 33rd and 34th in the league respectively.

It should be noted that after February, Reeves has made progress, averaging 22.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 1.2 steals per game, with a shooting percentage of 47.7%/38.9%/91.4% in three events, and a real shooting percentage of 64.8%. During this period, the Lakers won 21 wins and 11 losses.

Everyone knows that a major deal occurred, Davis left and Doncic arrived. It was thought that Doncic's existence might affect Reeves, but the situation was completely opposite.

Reeves not only did not get worse, but also played better and better. In the last 17 regular season games, he even gave 24.9 points and a real shooting percentage of 67.8%, which is better than many All-Star scorers.

Despite the abnormal playoffs, I only scored 20+ in 5 games against the Timberwolves, and my average score was reduced to 16.2 points, and my real shooting percentage was only 51.4%.

However, after all, there are only 5 games in the playoffs, and Reeves is still playing with a toe injury. Combining his performance in the regular season and past playoffs (Reeves averaged 20.6 points per game in the last 7 games of the 2023 playoffs), there is no doubt about Reeves' performance on the offensive end. He is healthy and is a very outstanding No. 3 ball holder. The problem is mainly in defense and the Lakers' backcourt situation.

Reeves is not a good defender. One of the reasons why Murray broke out in the two playoffs of the Lakers against the Nuggets was that the Lakers were Reeves and Russell in the backcourt.

In addition, this year, Reeves frequently encountered naming on the defensive end. McDan, who usually doesn't get the ball, always saw Reeves playing once and once. In 40 rounds between the two, McDan made 13 of 18 shots and scored 30 points.

Large sample data can also prove that Reeves' defense is not excellent. In the regular season, in 73 games, Reeves averaged 15.6 shots per game (this number is a bit exaggerated for the defender, indicating that he is often pointed), and his opponent's shooting percentage can be increased from 46.0% to 49.3%.

Simply put, kill one thousand enemies and lose eight hundred of them.

In some low-end innings, this may not be fully reflected, but in high-end innings, Reeves' defense may become a problem. The bad thing is that Doncic is not a player who is good at defending the Lakers' core team building for many years and Reeves' backcourt partner.

Look at the combination of the two, plus James, who is 41 years old in the new season, so the Lakers are so anxious to find one or even multiple good inside players. If there is a strong frame protection and a supporting defense, James will not have to go to the fifth position, and Reeves and Doncic will have much less defensive flaws.

Back to Reeves, despite the shortcomings, it was completely expected that he would refuse to have 4 years and 89.2 million. After all, his current value is definitely more than 30 million. At this stage of his career, it is completely understandable to pursue a larger contract. Maybe by the time he becomes a free agent next year, a team may offer him a five-year contract of 150 million or more.

The question is, how big is the contract the Lakers are willing to give him next year? If he is kept with a high salary, will it bring some salary and defensive problems? After all, Reeves is 15 million, and Reeves is 30 million? The standards will be completely different at that time.

Or, the Lakers have another option: Sell at high prices.

As we said, Reeves is playing his best season in his career. Looking at this year's trading market, Bain can sell four first rounds. So with Reeves as the main bargaining chip, can he also switch to some high-quality insiders?

For this, a reporter had imagined that the combination of Jarren, who used Reeves and Knecket as the main bargaining chips to trade the Grizzlies - Doncic + Jarren + James, is also indispensable, but the effect is at least better than Jarren.

So, don't listen to Pelinka saying that he hopes to continue building the team with James, Doncic and Reeves. Considering the problems he will face next summer, there may be huge changes this summer. How big is Reeves’ contract now? Should the Lakers trade him now?