LAS VEGAS -- After signing the most lucrative NBA contract for an undrafted player in league history earlier this month, Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves -- wearing a backward hat and a golf T-shirt-- appeared to be the same low-key guy he's always been, speaking to reporters Monday for the first time since signing the new deal.
What has changed, Reaves admitted, is the roster that will surround him, beginning with the departure of LeBron James.
"I don't know if I've honestly processed it yet," Reaves said of James' decision to leave Los Angeles after eight years with the franchise. "Starting the season without him being on the team is going to be different for me. He's kind of all I've ever known. Just him being around, joking around, acting like he's 15. But that's his decision and... I got nothing but love and respect for him."
Reaves, who originally agree to a four-year, $185 million extension with a player option on the final season, ended up inking a four-year, $180 million deal, league sources confirmed to ESPN. Reaves' decision, sources told ESPN, will give the Lakers more financial flexibility moving forward -- making it possible to pursue a player with the non-taxpayer midlevel exception next summer. In the meantime, Reaves will be relied on more than he ever was in his first five years in Los Angeles to lead the Lakers alongside Luka Doncic.
"Luka," Reaves said, "I mean, he's one of my best friends on this planet. Talk to him almost every single day. He sends me videos of his golf swing and asks me what he can do to get better, and I tell him I'm not a coach."
Indeed, Reaves arrived in Las Vegas late Sunday night after a weekend in Lake Tahoe, where he competed in the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament, featuring other basketball players, including Stephen Curry, Dell Curry, Ray Allen, Doc Rivers and Vinny Del Negro.