9 days after the Lakers were eliminated! The three heads have other plans, and they are expected to break out of the contract, and the prospect of staying in the team has caused controversy

May 10th news, 9 days after the Lakers were eliminated in the playoffs, new news finally came. According to Sports Illustrated, Austin Rivers, the three-man leader of the Lakers, will jump out of the contract and test the free agent market in 2026. According to the original plan, the Lakers can provide Rivers with a four-year, $89.2 million contract, but the outside world generally expects Rivers to reject the offer and jump out of the current contract after the end of next season. In this case, for the Lakers, next summer, it will face a very difficult choice. Although Rivers can play because the Lakers give him a chance, it is reasonable for the young man to pursue a higher salary.

Rivers was the undraft in 2021, but the Lakers locked him up early and signed a two-way contract with him as soon as possible. Rivers himself did not disappoint everyone. The rookie showed very good talent and ability in the season, and finally won 1 point, 4 years, 54 million in 2023. This contract will not end until the 2026 season 2027 season, but the last year is the player option. With his current ability, he has indeed achieved his net worth, and his salary of more than 10 million is definitely low, so it is a foregone conclusion that he will jump out of the player option for the last year's contract. The Lakers also want to keep him, but the price is a problem. It is not worth giving too much, and it is impossible to keep him if he gives less.

Considering the future situation of the Lakers, after trading in Doncic, he will definitely be regarded as the core of the team in the next 10 years. In addition, James will also be a player option next season, and it is estimated that the probability of retirement after the last season is very high. According to the Lakers' plan, after James' contract expires, it is likely to create a backcourt combination between Doncic and Rivers in the future, and build a new lineup around this combination. The biggest contract Rivers can sign now is 212 million in five years. The Lakers’ previous offer was 89.2 million in four years. It can be seen that the gap is nearly half. Perhaps this is an important reason why Rivers chose to break out of the contract. So is Rivers worth it to keep him in a big contract?

This season's regular season, Rivers averaged 20.2 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game, and averaged 16.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game in the playoffs. It can be intuitively seen that Rivers' performance in the regular season is indeed worth a big contract, but under the high pressure of defense in the playoffs, Rivers' performance shrank. Considering his defensive shortcomings and the combination of Doncic + Rivers created by the Lakers in the future, they are obviously strong offense and weak defense, and it may be okay to clear data in the regular season, but in the playoffs where the tough battles are played, defense will become a drag. Therefore, whether Rivers should be kept and how much money to stay has also caused controversy among fans. How big do you think the Lakers should keep him in the contract? Personally, I think it is more appropriate to have an annual salary of 25 million US dollars in four years. What do you think? Welcome to discuss together, thank you.