Perhaps the biggest move the Los Angeles Lakers made this summer was re-signing Austin Reaves to a new four-year contract. After playing on what was arguably the biggest bargain contract in the league, Reaves has now cashed in and will be a core member of this franchise for many years.
That new contract has not changed how he works out and prepares in the offseason as Reaves noted that his focus on getting stronger and becoming a better basketball player remains the same.
“It’s the same as basically every summer,” Reaves recently told reporters. “Getting stronger and just becoming a better basketball player. I’ve said it a million times, the beautiful thing about basketball is you’re never gonna perfect it. You can always get better in some aspect of it and whatever that might be just continuing to try to do that.”
As Reaves said, the beautiful part about basketball is that there is always some area of the game to improve upon. Nobody has ever been perfect at everything and he will continue to work on getting better in different facets of his game to come back and have another strong season for the Lakers.
Last year, Reaves began the season on an absolute tear and was poised to make his first All-Star appearance before injuries ruined things. Then as he, Luka Doncic and LeBron James really began to gel and the team had its best stretch of the year, both he and Doncic went down just before the playoffs as a Grade 2 left oblique strain keeping him out until late in the first round.
Regardless, Reaves averaged 23.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists while shooting 49% from the field and 36% from 3-point range last year and the pressure for him to produce will be even greater now. With James joining the Philadelphia 76ers this summer, Reaves must step into a bigger role to help these Lakers take another step towards championship contention and he is putting in the work this summer to do just that.
Austin Reaves happy to have Walker Kessler on Lakers
The other major move the Lakers made this summer was executing a sign-and-trade for center Walker Kessler, whom the franchise feels is the perfect big man to pair with both Reaves and Doncic. Reaves has some history with Kessler as they were teammates on Team USA back in 2023 and he is happy to have the big man as his teammate now on the purple and gold.
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