Friday night featured a return to Los Angeles for D’Angelo Russell, who was traded to the Brooklyn Nets for Dorian Finney-Smith a few weeks ago. The now second-time Net got to square off with Austin Reaves, who he became great friends with during their time together.
By trading Russell away, it opened the door for Reaves to be the Lakers’ starting point guard and has shown steady growth in this new role. In his last 10 games, the 26-year-old is averaging 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 8.9 assists on 44.7% from the field and 40.6% from 3-point range.
Reaves is continuing to find confidence as a lead guard and he spoke to Russell’s positive impact for helping him take strides in his game.
“I think it’s really just staying the course and figuring out ways to help us be a better team,” Reaves said. “Like you said, there’s so many ups and downs in this league, the scrutiny is high being a Laker, so the more you can just stay connected to the group and connected with one each other is the most important thing for me. And to be honest, like I spoke to Dan [Woike] this morning about, DLo really helped me with that when he got here, with him being through that, being drafted here, being a young player. He’s seen everything that I had been through or I was going through. So when he got here, he really taught me how to, not that the noise was affecting me, but to really just push that aside and worry about the betterment of the team, how I can continue to grow and be better. So I feel like that’s the main thing, is just really continuing to grow as a leader.”
In Friday’s game, the Nets had a chance to win the game at the buzzer as L.A. only led by one point in the final seconds. Brooklyn opted to let the former Laker try and win the game, but Russell’s 3-pointer went off the mark.
“Man, it looked good,” Reaves said. “Not good for us, but the ball looked good in the air. It wouldn’t have been in that position if I didn’t miss about four shots in a row. But yeah, I’ve seen him make that shot a million times. Max [Christie] played good defense. Good defense takes you only so far sometimes. And like I said, I’ve seen him make that shot, and fortunately, it didn’t go in. So thank you. But yeah, he played a hell of a game.”
It is great for Reaves to give Russell his props for helping him grow and becoming a successful point guard in the NBA is a hard thing to do. The fourth-year guard seems to be finding his groove and Russell played a big part in that.
Austin Reaves expresses support for those impacted by wildfires
Unfortunately, the city of Los Angeles has been greatly impacted by the recent wildfires. It put the Lakers season on a brief hold due to the great damage that was caused.
Seeing how head coach JJ Redick was impacted, Austin Reaves offered support for all those impact by the fires.
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? It’s the best way to watch player interviews, exclusive coverage from events, participate in live shows, and more!
