The Los Angeles Lakers didn’t waste any time in bringing back Austin Reaves this offseason.
Reaves briefly entered free agency before re-signing with the Lakers on a massive five-year, $180 million contract.
But before Reaves agreed on the deal, he was reportedly pursued by an Eastern Conference team.
Detroit Pistons Targeted Austin Reaves Last Summer
According to ESPN’s Vincent Goodwill, the Detroit Pistons wanted a secondary scoring option to help Cade Cunningham.
The Pistons reportedly looked at Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard and pursued Austin Reaves in free agency.
“The Pistons inquired about trading for Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant this offseason, according to league sources, and were positioned to offer Austin Reaves a big free agent contract if the Los Angeles Lakers opened the door. None of that materialized,” Goodwill wrote.
Durant remained with the Houston Rockets, while the Los Angeles Clippers traded Leonard to the Toronto Raptors.
As for Reaves, the Lakers offering the max contract shut down the Pistons’ chances of prying him away.
Pistons Caused Lakers to Offer Reaves Max?
Speaking on ESPN’s First Take podcast back in June, Brian Windhorst reported that the Detroit Pistons being a serious contender in signing Austin Reaves forced the Los Angeles Lakers to offer the max contract.
The Lakers’ initial offer was just $30 million per season, but the Pistons started making moves. They traded Isaiah Stewart to free up money, prompting the Lakers to improve their offer by $15 million a year.
“What they offered him yesterday and he agreed to was more than $45 million per year,” Windhorst said via RealGM. “That’s a 50 percent increase in like 24 hours. Why? Leverage. Because the Detroit Pistons were lining it up. You saw last night they made to move off Isaiah Stewart. That cleared salary cap space.”
Reaves would have been a perfect backcourt partner for Cade Cunningham in Detroit. His role with the Lakers is similar to what he would have had with the Pistons. He’s going to be a secondary scoring option behind Luka Doncic for the foreseeable future.
Reaves Already Turned Down Detroit Before
This year’s free agency wasn’t the first time Austin Reaves turned down the Detroit Pistons for the Los Angeles Lakers.
In an appearance on the All The Smoke podcast in 2023, Reaves revealed that the Pistons were interested in picking him in the second round of the 2021 NBA draft.
However, Reaves’ representatives told the Pistons not to draft him. They were more interested in earning a contract as an undrafted free agent with the Lakers, and it worked.
Reaves turned into one of the best undrafted players in recent memory, while the Pistons are still in need of a secondary scoring option.
This article was originally published on HEAVY
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