Who’s the best NBA free agent in the summer of the 2026? There’s not a lot of great options. LeBron James remains the biggest name, but he’s set to turn 42 years old midway through the season. Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu are both solid players, but they were most recently in a sixth man role. Norman Powell can get buckets, but his defense is a bit of an eyesore, and he’s older than you might think at 33. There’s a nice list of restricted free agents — Jalen Duren, Peyton Watson, Walker Kessler, Tari Eason — but it’s going to be hard to pry them away from their teams.
For my money, the best available NBA free agent this year is Austin Reaves. Reaves will turn down his $14.9 million player option to become an unrestricted free agent in early July, and he could cash in in a huge way thanks to a depleted marketplace.
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Reaves’ max contract would be five years, $239 million if he re-signs with the Los Angeles Lakers. If he signs with another team, the most he could get is four years, $178 million. Given the leverage he has right now, it’s no surprise that Reaves and his representation are pushing the Lakers for the full max. Los Angeles Times reporter Brad Turner went on local TV on Thursday night and said “based on what I understand and what I keep hearing, Austin wants the max.” Turner added that he’s not sure Reaves will give the Lakers a hometown discount. Watch the video here:
Reaves signed what was a considered a very team-friendly team last time he was a free agent — and he easily out-played it. In the summer of 2023, the guard agreed to a four-year, $54 million that had a player option in the final season. Negotiating that option was a brilliant move by Reaves’ agents, and now he gets to hit he open market again at 28 years old.
The Lakers are entering a pivotal summer. This is their big chance to build around Luka Doncic, and they need to get it right. Los Angeles has Reaves, James, Rui Hachimura, Luke Kennard, and Maxi Kleber all coming off the books. Do any of these players fit the Lakers’ long-term vision around Luka? If so, they will work to re-sign them, but only if the front office believes they still have enough flexibility to continue to build out the team.
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The Lakers are slated to have about $48 million in cap space this summer, second most behind only the Chicago Bulls. Chicago doesn’t seem like a threat to sign Reaves at the moment under a new front office led by Bryson Graham. Would the Brooklyn Nets — potentially armed with $44 million in cap space — get involved? That seems more possible. Here’s the cap space leaders this summer, via insider Keith Smith.
Of course, teams can create cap space pretty easily. Got a bad contract on your hands? Brooklyn or Chicago would likely be willing to take it for the low, low price of a promising young player or future draft picks.
Is there another free agent the Lakers could value over Reaves? Given the way Doncic gets the most out of his centers, I like the idea of Los Angeles targeting Duren with a max offer sheet. It’s possible Detroit would match to retain him, but it would feel like a hard decision after Duren’s disappointing playoff run this year.
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How much should the Lakers offer Austin Reaves?
Reaves is an awesome offensive player who struggles on defense. Can you really win a championship with two weak defenders like Doncic and Reaves on the floor at the same time? You better have three awesome defenders around them if so. Reaves graded out as the 30th best player in the NBA this season by EPM by being the 27th best offensive player and the 156th best defensive player. That’s just one metric, but it doesn’t seem too crazy to me.
If I’m the Lakers, I’m trying to get Reaves to sign for under $40 million annually when his max would put him at $47.8 million per year. Given how the current CBA is squeezing salaries for mid-level players, I just can’t see Reaves getting his full max anywhere, including LA.
A fair offer for Reaves would be four years, $150 million with a player option on the final season. That’s an average of $37.5 million per year. The Lakers could front-load the deal to maintain more cap space going forward.
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This is such a critical summer for the Lakers if they ever want to build a championship team around Luka. Figuring out what to do with Reaves is their first big decision.
