Nearly 12 months ago it was the Brooklyn Nets who presented as the only team with realistic cap space to make the Golden State Warriors nervous by providing Jonathan Kuminga an offer sheet in restricted free agency.
The Nets resisted the urge to make such a move, but they won't less that pass with the Los Angeles Lakers this time around. Brooklyn are set to give the Lakers a headache when it comes to Austin Reaves and his free agency, with reports indicating they're about to offer a deal worth nearly $45 million per year.
Nets set to hand Lakers an Austin Reaves headache Warriors avoided
According to Dan Woike of The Athletic on Friday, the Nets are expected to offer Reaves a four-year, $178.5 million contract to try and pry him away from the Lakers after five seasons with the franchise.
"Multiple front-office sources around the league, granted anonymity to freely discuss an opposing player, expect Reaves to have interest from the Brooklyn Nets, with a four-year, $178.5 million contract expected to be offered," Woike wrote.
Reaves is an unrestricted free agent and could walk freely to the Nets, but there's an assumption he'll stick with the Lakers if they offer him something in a similar ballpark, with the maximum of a five-year, $241 million contract given they hold his bird rights.
Still, being forced to match a $45 million per year deal for Reaves is an uncomfortable position for the Lakers to be in, and is a stark contrast to the incredibly team-friendly average of just under $13.5 million he's played on over the past four years.
As discussed here last month, a player of Reaves' skillset can be incredibly valuable, yet far less so when he's making over $40 million and where the defensive concerns will be highlighted to a stronger degree.
Warriors were allowed to hold leverage with Jonathan Kuminga
An offer sheet from the Nets for Kuminga last year would have had his restricted free agency over rather quickly one way or the other. Brooklyn didn't go down that path, allowing Golden State to hold leverage in the situation which led to a stand-off for multiple months before Kuminga re-signed on a deal that was on the franchise's terms.
An offer sheet from the Nets would have likely forced the Warriors to match at terms that were either higher in annual salary, and/or a much longer term deal that could have made Kuminga more difficult to trade.
Considering their strong interest in superstar forward LeBron James, the Warriors should also have some interest in what happens with Reaves, the Lakers and the potential ramifications of a max or near-max extension.
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