When the Los Angeles Lakers traded away D’Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Dorian Finney-Smith, it was a signal to guard Austin Reaves. Head coach JJ Redick was telling Reaves that he was ready to become a primary creator and initiator for an L.A. offense that has been in the top half of the league for much of the season.
In the seven games prior to the deal, Reaves had been averaging 20.3 points, 5.9 rebounds and 7.4 assists a night on relatively strong shooting numbers. That gave the organization confidence that he could continue that on a larger scale. And in the seven games since the trade, he’s averaging 18.9 points and 8.6 assists. His shooting numbers have dipped slightly, but he is undoubtedly initiating well.
Redick was asked how he feels Reaves is adjusting to the new role and responding to the slightly decreased shooting numbers, giving high praise for his point guard.
“Yeah, I think, I don’t know if you did, but I know someone asked me a similar question when this whole thing first started. Might have been Dan. Just about the turnovers and kind of living with that but also finding the balance. You have to give him his daring. He has a daring mentality. You have to give a little bit on that and allow him to live in that space. I think when he’s played the right way, which is taking responsibility for what he is for this team, which is primary creator, and taken the right shot and made the right passes, I’ll be honest with you, he’s played at an All-Star level,” Redick said.
“Like, he’s been that good. You don’t have stretches of 10, 12 games in an NBA season averaging 22, 8 and 6 on high efficiency without playing the right way. And he’s been that good for us.
“It’s when the game kind of goes sideways. And this is what we talked about yesterday. The game going sideways. It’s like, you can’t get out of character. You can’t then decide, ‘I’m gonna take bad shots cause I haven’t had a shot in a while. I’m gonna make that pass. Our team needs you to play the right way every time.’ And when he’s done that, he’s been elite.”
With Reaves being so new to this role, there are bound to be some mistakes and some games where things might get away from him. But there is no denying that he has shown the potential to excel as a primary creator.
And it doesn’t seem like the Lakers are going away from him in that role any time soon.
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