Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves has had an orthodox rise to becoming a starter for one of the most successful NBA teams in the league’s history. Reaves went from an undrafted free agent to a full-time starter throughout the first three seasons of his professional career, which is quite the success story from a relatively unknown player to a household name in the city of Los Angeles.
Although Reaves has had many opportunities to use social media to his advantage during his rise to fame as a Lakers starter, the 26-year-old has chosen to take a different approach, as he hasn’t documented every moment of his basketball journey.
Many players around the league, from established superstars to role players, try to make a name for themselves using social media on a daily basis, from posting about brands to showing what they are doing in the gym to improve their game.
However, Reaves doesn’t believe he has to do that to prove himself, as he usually keeps to himself during the season and throughout the NBA offseason. Outside of posting regularly about golf, the other sport he’s passionate about, Reaves never takes his fans inside the gym and doesn’t feel the need to do so, as he made clear during Lakers Media Day on Monday.
“For me, it’s just like, and this is for me, why do I have to prove to everybody that I’m working out? I know what I’m doing. I know that I’m in the gym. I don’t have to post it on Instagram for however many people to see. I think that’s kind of just wanting to show off what you’re doing. I’m not saying it’s the wrong thing because there’s multiple things that I’ve seen online of people working out that you can take and use it as helpful stuff.
“It’s just not for me. I don’t post a lot anyway, like you said, you’ll probably see more golf on my page. But it’s not really a bad thing if you’re doing it, it’s just not what I do. I don’t really like a lot of cameras anyway, I just would prefer to be with myself… Have a small group in there, get your work in and get out. Like I said, I don’t have to prove to anybody that I’m working out. At the end of the day, all that matters is the work that I’m putting in and the people in this organization believing in me.”
Even though some may not like what Reaves said because posting workout videos has become so popular among professional athletes these days, this is a candidate response from the Lakers guard. This doesn’t happen much in professional sports these days, with everyone being so careful about what they say and how they’re perceived.
That said, Reaves continues to prove he’s his own man and does things he feels he should be doing rather than trying to force narratives or show off how hard he works in the offseason to prepare for the regular season.
Coming into his fourth year in the league, Reaves will be playing for his third head coach in the NBA, with JJ Redick seemingly already fond of the Lakers guard. Redick has made it clear he’ll be asking a lot from the Arkansas native, as he’s already been dubbed the starting shooting guard once again ahead of the 2024-25 NBA season.
Rob Pelinka sees Lakers guard Austin Reaves making leap like Jalen Brunson
Los Angeles Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has high hopes for Austin Reaves coming into the upcoming NBA season, as he believes the 26-year-old can follow in the footsteps of New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson.
Although that’ll be a tall task for Reaves, as Brunson is now considered a superstar and one of the best guards in the league, it’ll be interesting to see where the undrafted guard’s career goes from here.
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