Prior to the calf strain that cost him 17 games, Austin Reaves was in the midst of easily the best season of his career. Thriving in an expanded role for the Los Angeles Lakers, Reaves was in line to make his first All-Star team and possibly could have been in contention for All-NBA or an individual award such as Most Improved Player.
Even with the injury, Reaves is averaging career-highs in point, rebounds and assists and is widely accepted around the league as one of the best players who can carry an offense. The individual accolades will certainly come for Reaves if he continues along this path, but that is not where his focus lies.
From the moment Reaves joined the Lakers, he has always been about winning and team success over everything else. As such, it should come as no surprise that in his recent interview with Franklyn Calle of SLAM Magazine, Reaves listed winning a championship with the Lakers as his biggest goal:
“Winning a championship. That’s been the one thing I wanted to do since becoming a Laker. You know, I grew up a Lakers fan [and] a Kobe fan, and watched all those Finals runs. Just to be able to put this jersey on and have an opportunity to help this organization try to compete for a championship is the main thing. I believe all individual success comes from team success. So, therefore, if you’re winning at the highest level, then all that individual stuff is going to come.”
There is a reason why the Lakers value Reaves so highly and it isn’t just because of what he does on the court. His mindset and commitment to winning over everything else makes Reaves the kind of player any team wants to have on their roster and the Lakers are a franchise that has always been about winning at the highest level.
Reaves has gotten better every single season and he is set to cash in on that this offseason with a big contract that he is more than deserving of. But what drives him most is winning and there is zero doubt that he will do everything in his power to help bring another championship back to this franchise.
Austin Reaves explains how he regained his rhythm so quickly
Austin Reaves has only recently returned to the court from his injury, but he has, for the most part, looked just as good as he did prior to going down and he spoke about how he was able to get back in rhythm so quickly after such a long time out.
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