Confirmed a contract jump! 50 million! The Lakers are so well-off—they haven’t had this in 10 years.

According to an ESPN reporter Dave McMenamin report, Reeves has already confirmed that he will decline his $14.9 million player option for next season and become a fully unrestricted free agent this summer.

Not surprising at all—given the stats Reeves put up this season, it would be weird not to opt out of his contract, right?

This season, Reeves played 49 games, averaging 23.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 5.6 assists per game.

I looked over the data tables of this season’s stars and feel that comparing Reeves to our Devin Booker is still the most appropriate choice (what’s with me—every time it’s time to compare salaries and stats, I end up using Booker as the example. Too much).

Booker played 59 games this season, averaging 25.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 6 assists per game.

Is it pretty much the same as Reeves?!

As everyone knows, Booker’s salary this season is $53 million, and next season it’s $57 million.

So, you tell me how Reeves would be willing to earn only $14.9 million next season? Opting out is only logical.

But Lakers fans don’t need to worry too much either—if they’re trying to keep Reeves this summer, it shouldn’t be too difficult to manage their salary cap situation.

Salary expert Bobby Marks also knows everyone’s concerns, so he gave a quick rundown right away: even if the Lakers this summer offer Reeves the maximum contract of 5 years and $241 million, Reeves would still take up only $20.9 million of cap space; the Lakers would still have $50 million in cap space this summer.

That’s quite a lot！！！

I checked the materials to solidify my understanding, and I’ll immediately give you all the breakdown, my dear.

First, the Lakers hold full Bird Rights for Reeves, which means they can ignore the salary cap and offer him a contract—maximum up to 5 years and $241 million—without having to worry about salary-cap issues.

Second, when a player becomes a free agent until he signs with another team / re-signs, his former team will have a virtual salary placeholder.

Let’s use Reeves and the Lakers as an example…

If this summer the Lakers first agree with Reeves on a re-signing contract, but don’t sign it yet—then go to free agency to complete a series of roster upgrades.

At that point, Reeves would have a virtual salary reserve amount in the Lakers’ cap space.

For a player who was not a first-round pick but has Bird Rights, the algorithm for his virtual salary reserve is:

If his salary from the previous season is higher than the league average salary, then the reserved salary is the previous season salary * 150%

If it’s lower than the league average salary, then it’s previous season salary * 190%

Reeves’ salary this season is $13.9 million, so his reserved salary would be $20.9 million.

That’s what salary expert bobby said above: no matter how large a contract the Lakers offer Reeves, his cap-space usage this summer will only be $20.9 million.

Of course, in the 2026-27 season, the calculation of the luxury tax—and then by the summer of 2027—the share of Reeves’ contract in the Lakers’ cap space will be based on the actual salary paid.

But that’s next summer’s issue. This summer, the Lakers are still very well off.

That Lakers’ $50 million in cap space comes out assuming that both Ayton and Smart choose to exercise their player options.

So, in short—yeah, they’re really loaded. How long has it been since the Lakers last fought a battle this well-funded?

The last time they were this well-funded—was it still back in the summer when Kobe retired? It’s been almost 10 years…

At that time, the Lakers’ roster was ⬇️

And I’ve also heard that the Lakers don’t plan to spend big in free agency to bring in a third star.

They want to re-sign James, and if James is willing to take a pay cut.

But nobody knows how much of a pay cut that “willingness” is expecting—how much do you think would be reasonable for you all?

However, if they don’t have a strong desire for a third star, then that $50 million in cap space is even more than enough!

The Lakers are also interested in re-signing Hayes, Kennard, and Rui Hachimura.

But those three, I’d guess, won’t end up using much cap space.

So this summer, the Lakers are probably still going to have some cap space left—enough to actually go “fish” in the real free-agent market, instead of relying on old-veteran minimum contracts and the “Los Angeles halo” to “big-deal” people.

Not easy—really not easy. Feels like Pelinka is about to shed happy tears.