Austin Reaves has a new $184 million contract, but he isn’t allowing the massive payday to change his approach with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Reaves agreed to a four-year, $184 million deal during the offseason, finally landing a contract that better reflects his standing as one of the Lakers’ most important players.
Naturally, the deal brings increased expectations, but Reaves isn’t concerned about proving he’s worth the money. His focus remains on helping Los Angeles win.
“It doesn’t really matter to me. In a sense, there has to be. I would assume that people would look at it that way, but at the end of the day, like, I got to go out there and play basketball and I’ve been playing basketball for 15 years now,” Reaves told ESPN LA radio at Lakers Media Day. “It’s the same thing I’ve done since I was a kid and I’m going to enjoy it the way that I’ve always enjoyed it. The main thing is winning. If you go out there and win, nobody really – if I have 15 points and we win, it’s better than me having 30 [points] and losing. So just figuring out how to win games and win games at the highest level is the main thing for me.”
The contract represents another major step in Reaves’ unlikely rise.
He entered the NBA on a two-way deal before eventually signing a four-year, $54 million contract with Los Angeles. His production quickly outpaced that deal as he developed into one of the league’s better guards.
Reaves continued that progression during the 2025-26 season, while also developing promising offensive chemistry alongside Luka Doncic, according to Jackson Frank of Silver Screen and Roll.
Now, the expectations surrounding Reaves will be significantly different.
Instead of being viewed as an undrafted success story outperforming his contract, he’ll enter the season as a $184 million player expected to be a major part of the Lakers’ pursuit of a championship.
But Reaves doesn’t appear interested in measuring his success by individual numbers.
Whether it’s 15 points or 30, his priority remains the same: winning basketball games at the highest level.
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