Reeves rejected the Lakers contract extension of 89.2 million in four years! Fans bluntly said that it was the next Schroeder

NBA draft is still in full swing, and the trading market is becoming lively, and all teams are looking for opportunities to improve player configuration.

According to Lakers TA reporter Dan Woike, earlier this week, Lakers guard Reeves Jr. refused the management's four-year maximum salary of 89.2 million yuan in advance.

This player signed 54 million yuan with the Lakers in 2023. At that time, this contract was the largest amount he could get. After two years of struggling with the Lakers, Reeves' role in the team is becoming more and more important. In the regular season of the 24-25 season, he averaged 20.2 points, 5.8 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game, shooting percentage of 46% and three-point shooting percentage of 37.7%, which is quite excellent. From this point of view, it is reasonable for the Lakers to offer him an early contract renewal.

But why did Reeves refuse? In fact, everyone knows in their hearts that Reeves' current performance is a bit much different from what he thinks. Reeves is now in the rising stage and is fully confident that after breaking out of the contract next year, he will get a much larger contract than this. Moreover, refusing the contract this time will not affect his relationship with the Lakers. After all, what the Lakers gave is the maximum amount that can be given at this stage. From Reeves' perspective, pursuing higher salaries is also a normal demand for players.

Judging from the trading process, the Lakers must want to keep Reeves in the team for a long time, after all, he is indispensable in the team system. But Reeves was ambitious and wanted to win greater benefits for himself, so he chose to refuse to renew his contract in advance.

After seeing Reeves making this decision, the fans in the comment section of the social media couldn't help but feel worried about him, thinking that he would be the next Schroeder and Thomas Jr. Of course, some fans believe that the Lakers currently have two major ball-holding cores, Doncic and James, and what they need is big men and 3D. Reeves' existence is not indispensable. He can be exchanged for center, and the Trail Blazers' inside Ayton is good; he can eat cakes and has good frame protection ability, and can match it perfectly with Doncic.

As a non-draft player in the NBA, Reeves is currently 27 years old. It is rare to be able to climb up step by step in the NBA and play as outstanding offensive performance as last season.

Previously, he said in an interview with the media that his and Doncic's combination has both offense and defense, and he can get a chance to take action every time he attacks, which is indeed true. But the fans saw the disaster performance of the two defensive end in the playoffs; this pair of backcourt combinations is not good at defense, and if the Lakers really send it away and exchange it for the players they need, the author would not be surprised at all.