Austin Reaves is the clear-cut third best player on the Los Angeles Lakers behind LeBron James and Luka Doncic, so he’ll be relied upon heavily throughout the 2025-26 season.
James is reportedly targeting a mid-November return as he recovers from a bout of sciatica, meaning Reaves will be the No. 2 option behind Doncic for nearly the first month of the new year.
Reaves has shown he can handle more responsibility on the offensive end, though he’s not pretending that he can make up for James’ absence by himself, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
“Honestly, I haven’t thought about it. Just enjoy playing basketball, we got a lot of really talented guys and I’m definitely not gonna go out there and be LeBron James. If that was the case, people would talk about me like they talk about him but that’s not the case. We have to do it as a collective and I’m just excited to start the regular season. Go out there and compete with the guys we got and hopefully put together a lot of wins.”
He also discussed how much he’s grown over the years as a leader and how he continues to look for ways to better the team:
“I was having this conversation with Shane my trainer the other day and we were just talking about my rookie year when I literally never spoke. I didn’t talk to anybody. I kind of just kept mouth closed and I’m sure a lot of people wish that we could go back to that but definitely a lot more vocal now, talk a lot more. But just trying to hold people accountable, lead by example. We have a lot of talent. Obviously Bron is still very vocal even though he’s not playing. We got Luka, one of the best players in the league, so just trying to figure out whatever I can do to help our team be successful.”
Reaves has turned into a reliable player both on and off the floor and with James out to start the season he has an opportunity to truly raise his game to another level.
Austin Reaves’ grandma got mad at LeBron James for yelling at him
LeBron James isn’t afraid to hold teammates accountable, including Austin Reaves who he’s yelled at on the floor before. Reaves revealed his grandma didn’t take too kindly to James yelling at him, though, as she got mad at the Lakers superstar.
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