By: Serena Xiao

After the NBA free agency opened on Friday, the Lakers secured deals with Austin Reaves, D’Angelo Russell and Rui Hachimura. Three of the Lakers’ best players. The deals would allow them to continue playing for the Lakers, making the Lakers among the top teams heading into the 2023-24 season.

Austin Reaves, 25, re-signed on a four-year, $56 million contract. During a breakout second season, the undrafted guard averaged 16.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists while starting all 16 of the Lakers’ playoff games. Because of his talents, the Lakers hurriedly re-signed him on the maximum they could offer before other teams could offer him deals worth way more than what the Lakers can offer.

The Lakers also re-signed D’Angelo Russell, a 27-year-old point guard. Russell agreed to a two-year, $37 million deal. He averaged 17.8 points and 6.2 assists last season, and he might test free agency again next summer because his new deal with the Lakers includes a player option (allows the player to choose whether to stay for another year or become an unrestricted free agent) for 2024-25.

Hachimura, 25, signed a three-year, $51 million deal. Hachimura averaged 12.2 points and 3.6 rebounds in the playoffs, and 29 points and five three-pointers in Game 1.

The biggest-dollar deals (suspected to be worth more than $200 million each) were kept for three members of the 2020 draft class who are eligible for rookie contract extensions during the 2024-25 season. Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball, Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton and Grizzlies guard Desmond Bane agreed to rookie extensions.

Unfortunately, the Lakers lost to the Denver Nuggets in the West finals. However, General Manager Rob Pelinka said, “We’re incredibly proud of this group.”

“Keeping that continuity is going to be very important. It’s a high priority to keep our core players together.”

LeBron James, another player on the Lakers, hinted that he was considering retirement and commented that the Lakers’ roster for next year was “not set” because so many key players were free agents (a player that does not have an existing contract with a team and seeks to sign a new one, either with the same team that offered the previous contract or a new team).