Austin Reaves Went From Undrafted To Signing A $185 Million Deal With The Lakers

The 2026 NBA Draft is in the books, with the next crop of players joining their new teams and ready to enter the league. Most stars wind up going early in the draft. LeBron James was the No. 1 overall pick in 2003, Kevin Durant was No. 2 in 2007, and Stephen Curry was the seventh selection in 2009. Occasionally, a superstar is born in the second round—in 2014, Nikola Jokic was famously drafted 41st during a Taco Bell commercial—though generally, lottery picks become the faces of the league and receive the big bucks that come with it.

Austin Reaves is bucking that trend. After playing his college ball at Oklahoma and Wichita State, he went undrafted in 2021. He ultimately signed with the Los Angeles Lakers over that summer. Alongside James, Anthony Davis, and later, Luka Dončić, who came over from the Dallas Mavericks after a trade for Davis, Reaves saw his role and productivity grow with the Lakers.

Now, they're giving him a four-year contract extension worth $185 million. It's the largest deal for an undrafted player in NBA history. How did Reaves make that happen?

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Let's go back to that 2021 draft. The Detroit Pistons had told Reaves they planned to select him with the 42nd pick. Detroit was planning to sign him to a two-way contract, theoretically meaning he'd split time between the NBA and G League. However, some two-way players never see a minute of NBA action, and obviously, the financial incentives aren't as high as a fully maximum contract.

Reaves and his agent had already brokered a two-way deal with the Lakers, thinking it would be good for the incoming rookie to team up with James and the other veterans on the squad. Reaves's agent told the Pistons they could select the player if they offered him a fully guaranteed contract. The Pistons didn't want to do that, so the Reaves camp said not to draft him at all. He'd rather go undrafted, because then he could negotiate a better deal to the destination he preferred.

Reaves has increased his scoring in each of his five NBA seasons with the Lakers. He finished last year with 23.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game and has averaged more than 34 minutes per contest in each of the past two seasons. He's become a key part of the team's roster.

He's also been wildly underpaid up until this point of his career, thanks to a clause in the NBA's collective bargaining agreement. After his first two years in the league, he fell under the Gilbert Arenas provision. No other team could pay more than the Lakers could over the deal's first two seasons, which was only a maximum of about $12 million.

So, the Lakers were able to offer Reaves a four-year contract worth up to $54 million. They knew it was a bit of a lowball deal, so they included a $14.9 million player option for this upcoming season. Reaves turned it down and expected to enter free agency if the two sides couldn't agree on a contract. Now, this new deal will increase his career earnings by more than five times what he's made so far.

Of course, Reaves has put in the work on and off the court to become a strong part of the team. After news of his signing broke, his girlfriend, Jenna Barber, shared a picture of the guard lying on his back on a golf course, hands over his head in disbelief.

After all, it's not every day a player goes from undrafted to turning down a $14.9 million option to signing a deal worth $185 million. Reaves has accomplished something nobody before him ever did.