The Los Angeles Lakers picked up their first win of the preseason on Sunday night against the Golden State Warriors with guard Austin Reaves leading the way.
Reaves played 23 minutes and led the Lakers with 21 points to go along with three rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block. He shot 7-for-10 from the field and 2-for-4 from deep.
In the middle of the third quarter though, Reaves appeared to hurt his leg and came out of the game for the rest of the night. He remained on the Lakers’ bench though and confirmed after the game that he was OK.
“I’m good. I’m good,” Reaves said.
JJ Redick also confirmed that Reaves was OK after the game and explained that he bumped legs with Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski, hurting his calf in the process.
Considering the Lakers are already dealing with some other injuries to key players, including LeBron James, they cannot afford to have someone like Reaves also missing time early in the season.
To start the preseason though, Reaves has looked better then ever as he seems to be primed for a career year once again with the Lakers. Until James returns, he will take on primary ball-handling duties alongside Luka Doncic in the L.A. backcourt.
Austin Reaves praises Bronny James
While Austin Reaves has been a standout in the preseason so far, he named second-year point guard Bronny James as a Lakers player that has impressed him.
“He’s been good,” Reaves said after practice last week. “Obviously, he didn’t shoot the ball as well as he wanted to the first game. I don’t think he took bad shots, all his shots were good. They all looked good. Like he said, some of them hit front rim, maybe due to JJ running us (laughs). I don’t mean that, JJ.
“He’s become a really good player. We went golfing the other day and that was the first thing I told him. We were driving down to the fairway on hole one and I was like, ‘I just need to let you know that in preseason and even before that, you’ve been one of the better players out on the floor almost every day.’ Just continue to do that. He’s a good kid, has a good head on his shoulders, is all about the right stuff and just wants to compete and get better, so shout out to him.”
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