Austin Reaves enters this season with a bunch of new faces as teammates on the Los Angeles Lakers with LeBron James being the most notable departure from last season. This will be Reaves’ first year in the NBA without James on the squad and it marks the start of a new era of Lakers basketball.
Not having James on the roster presents daunting challenges, but Reaves got to play with a legend and not many players can say that. When asked about his all-time starting five that included himself, the Arkansas product included three Lakers and James was among them.
“All of the older people, don’t be mad at me because I’m talking personally from what I’ve seen and watched. Steph at the one,” Reaves said on an episode of Pardon My Take. “I’ve gotta put myself in there, I can’t coach? Steph at the one, me at the two. It’s so much easier if I didn’t have to put myself in there because I would put Kobe at the two. We’re gonna go Kobe at the three, Bron at the four and Shaq at the five.”
Reaves grew up a Kobe Bryant fan, so it makes sense for him to be included on this list, along with his former teammate in James.
In 2023, the Lakers played against the Golden State Warriors in the second round, which allowed Reaves to match up with Stephen Curry. No one has fun guarding Curry due to his absurd 3-point shooting range, which would fit perfectly on a team full of stars.
Shaquille O’Neal feels like a cherry on top for Reaves’ team as he can provide a dominance in the paint that few in NBA history have.
All of the players that Reaves mentioned outside of himself are multi-time champions and elevated their respective teams to make it happen. The 28-year-old guard is looking for his first ring, as the furthest playoff run he was a part of was in 2023, reaching the Western Conference Finals. Hopefully, he can reach that championship ceiling alongside Luka Doncic in L.A.
Austin Reaves on growing up Kobe Bryant fan & LeBron James hater
When Reaves made a name for himself with the Lakers during his rookie season, old social media posts began surfacing about his younger self hating on James. He then had to break the ice with James when those posts gained traction, and he recently he shared a funny story of how that scenario came to be.
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