NBA Rumors: The San Antonio Spurs could emerge this offseason as a dark horse threat to sign Austin Reaves away from Los Angeles Lakers.
The San Antonio Spurs are sitting in a great position heading into the offseason. Not only do they have some talented young pieces already on their roster, but they will also be adding Victor Wembanyama at the 2023 NBA Draft. Wemby could quite possibly be the next great superstar and has the potential to be one of the faces of the league for the next decade and a half.
With the possibility to have plenty of cap space to work with during the offseason, to say that the Spurs have flexibility heading into the summer would be an understatement. But that’s where the upstart Spurs stand.
Even though it would be somewhat surprising for them to be extremely active in free agency – that’s never been the San Antonio way – I wouldn’t put it past this front office to try and take advantage of the right opportunity (or free agent) this offseason.
According to a recent report, that could end up being Austin Reaves. This report suggests that the Spurs could be a dark horse candidate to try and pry Reaves away from the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency.
There could be an Austin Reaves bidding war this offseason
Reaves will enter the offseason as a restricted free agent and the Lakers will be able (and are expected) to match any offer sheet that he gets on the open market. The question is, will they? The Spurs are one of the teams around the league that could really throw a lot of money in the direction of Reaves.
And his decision could ultimately come down to this: Do I want to play with the Lakers and next to LeBron James for another year or two, or do I want to play next to a young Spurs core, a legendary head coach (Gregg Popovich), and with Wemby?
You’d have to think that Reaves wants to return to the Lakers. They’re the team that ultimately believed in him most and gave him a real shot to realize his dream. However, if the Spurs (or any other team for that matter) throw a $100 million offer sheet in his direction, it’s something that he’ll have to at least consider signing.
Ultimately, the Lakers will have full control of what ends up happening for Reaves this offseason. But it won’t be an easy decision either way. And you can bet that if a team like the Spurs can make it even harder on the Lakers, they will.