Austin Reaves is starting to show his true colors in an LA Lakers jersey this season and is quickly becoming a dependable asset for JJ Redick.
The Lakers have had an inconsistent season but the team look to have found their groove in recent weeks and have improved to 26-19 in the Western Conference.
Antony Davis has played a major part in the team’s recent success but he has been ruled out through injury for a short period and coach Redick has called for people to step up.
One star that has been doing that this season is Reaves, who recently dropped a career-high 38 points against the Brooklyn Nets.
Reaves went undrafted in the 2021 NBA draft after declining to be selected by the Detroit Pistons, he would eventually go on to be picked up by the Lakers following the draft.
In his rookie season with the team, he averaged 7.3 points 3.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists in a Lakers team that failed to qualify for the playoffs finishing with a 33-49 record.
The debut NBA season was not exactly what Reaves had expected but since then his game ability has risen alongside the Lakers return to form.
After realizing that the team were tanking in his rookie season Reaves admitted he had ‘one goal’ and it involved one-upping the legendary LeBron James.
Speaking on The Young Man and the Three Podcast, he said: “Once I figured out that we were bad and weren’t going to make the playoffs I was like ‘I’m just gonna beat him [LeBron James] to a game’ so I was trying to figure out what time I needed to be there.
“Say it’s a 7:30 pm game I was like ‘I’ll get there at say 2:30/3 pm or whatever, I get there and I see his car and I’m like ‘s**t’, so next game I get there at 1:30 pm and the closest I ever got was seeing him drive down the tunnel. After that I was like ‘I’m not getting to the game this early anymore’ I was just sitting back there bored as s**t, but it’s like he gets there does his routine every single game and like I said he doesn’t miss, it’s very impressive.”
Oppositions will be aware of the danger that both Davis and LeBron can cause on any given night, but the pair have been screaming out for some help for some time.
The D’Angelo Russell experiment didn’t go to plan and he has now been traded to the Brooklyn Nets, but Reaves looks like the guy who can play a solid supporting role.
Reaves’ minutes have not only increased year-on-year, showing he is a safe pair of hands on the court, but his stats have also continued to rise.
This year Reaves is averaging 35 minutes of court time per game and has numbers sitting at 18-4-6, which is pretty strong considering AD and LeBron demand much of the ball.
AR15 recently put himself among some of the greatest names in Lakers history by finishing four straight games with at least 15 points and 10 assists.
There is no doubt that in a season where the Lakers have chopped and changed their lineup to find the right balance, Reaves is a mainstay.
Related Topics
