Going into last season, there was a lot of expectations surrounding Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves and whether he could make another leap to become the team’s third star. While Reaves certainly put together the best full season of his career, some may have viewed it as a bit underwhelming in some aspects.
But ever since JJ Redick was hired as the Lakers new head coach, Reaves has been someone spoken about very highly and the belief is that he will see an increased offensive role this year. And while the guard is certainly ready to take on that role, he is more focused on winning overall.
“I think it’s me just being me and having an opportunity to do that,” Reaves said about what his new role could entail. “But at the end of the day winning is all that matters. I feel like we have multiple guys that can win us games so one night it might be me, one night it might D-Lo, obviously Bron and AD are always gonna be who they are.
“But like I said I feel like we have multiple guys that can win us basketball games so just being unselfish in all aspects to just win is what we all need to come together as a unit. Regardless, like I said of who it is that night, on every night it’s gonna be somebody else so I’m really just here to do what’s asked and try to win games.”
The Lakers certainly have multiple players who can take over games and really lead the team to victory as Reaves noted. But often times last season, it felt like the strategies and game plans were lacking and while Reaves stands to benefit from what Redick is bringing in, he feels these new structures will benefit the entire Lakers team.
“It’s not even really just for me,” Reaves added. “I just think the whole structure and foundation that these coaches have brought in for us, talking with everybody, is a great start because I feel like a lot of times last year we won a lot of games off of talent and when you have talent around structure then you have opportunities to do something really special. So I don’t think it’s necessarily for me or not, I just think that everything that they’ve came in and talked about makes sense to me for our whole collective group.”
Ultimately, it comes down to putting players in the best positions for them to succeed and Redick plans on doing that for Reaves, which should greatly benefit the Lakers this upcoming season.
Rob Pelinka believes Austin Reaves can make similar leap to Jalen Brunson
Someone aside from JJ Redick who is very high on Austin Reaves is Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka. He recently spoke about Reaves in an interview and may have put some major expectations on the guard.
Pelinka noted that he has seen an increased confidence in Reaves with the ball in his hands during offseason scrimmages at the Lakers practice facility. The general manager would make reference to the leap that New York Knicks star guard Jalen Brunson made in recent years as a potential outcome for Reaves.
Pelinka was quick to add that he was not trying to compare the two and did not want to put that level of expectations on Reaves, but sees similarities in their mentalities and is excited to see what is to come for the Lakers guard.
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