Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves has elevated his game to a whole new level during the 2025-26 season, becoming a reliable running mate for Luka Doncic while able to cover for LeBron James while he’s out of the lineup.
Reaves was on pace to make the All-Star team before a calf injury forced him to miss over a month of action. Fortunately, he was able to return on schedule and picked up where he left off for the Lakers.
However, Reaves underwent a recent rough patch shooting the basketball before righting himself with an impressive performance in the win against the New York Knicks.
Prior to the victory, head coach JJ Redick revealed that he speaks to Reaves frequently and advises him to remain aggressive with his opportunities.
“Austin and I talk almost every day, and I think the messaging to him has just been to be himself and I think sometimes when you miss time and there’s circumstances going on with the team, that you can kind of be a little passive,” Redick said.
“I’ve shown him on film, I know Beau (Levesque) has shown him on film too, there are opportunities, that he’s not being as aggressive as he was earlier in the season. And so the thing we always talk about with AR and I, it’s a partnership. So here’s where I can be better, and here’s where you can be better. But we want him to be aggressive. Every time he gets the ball, we want him to be aggressive and have the mentality to touch the paint.”
Reaves has earned the offensive responsibility that’s been given to him and it’s proven that Los Angeles is a better basketball team when he’s hunting his own shots or looking to play make for teammates.
Reaves will be counted on to lead the Lakers down the stretch and it’ll be interesting to see if he can maintain his elite level of offensive production.
Austin Reaves believes Lakers played harder than Knicks in win
The win against the Knicks was arguably the most impressive one the Lakers have had this season as they managed to maintain their competitive fire for a full 48 minutes. There were numerous times where Los Angeles outworked New York for points and stops, a far cry from some of their other performances against quality opponents.
While it wasn’t always pretty, Austin Reaves believes the Lakers simply played harder than the Knicks to earn the win.
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