Austin Reaves has been the Los Angeles Lakers’ starting point guard and primary playmaker ever since the team traded away D’Angelo Russell to the Brooklyn Nets back in late December. Outside of Reaves, the Lakers only have LeBron James and Gabe Vincent who are any sort of facilitators, meaning much has been on the shoulders of Reaves.
Since Christmas Day — L.A.’s last 10 games — Reaves is averaging 22.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 8.9 assists per game on 44.7% from the field and 40.6% from beyond the arc. He is legitimately playing at an All-Star level, something head coach JJ Redick said in the midst of this stretch.
The trade happened two games into that period of time, and Reaves has continued his strong play even as defenses have focused more on him. Vincent, one of the Lakers’ other two facilitators, had extremely high praise for everything Reaves has done in the last few weeks.
“Austin has been great night in and night out,” Vincent said. “It hasn’t just been his scoring, it’s been his facilitating, it’s been his leadership, his voice. Even defensively he’s been good, so Austin is taking a leap. He’s been carrying a lot of load for us.”
Like many people, Vincent has known for a long time what Reaves is capable of. And he is happy for the fourth-year guard to see it all coming together.
“I think we’ve all known Austin is a really, really good player. He’s been playing at a very high level so very grateful for him, appreciate his effort tonight and nights prior and we’ve gonna rely on him moving forward I’m sure.”
The Lakers are undoubtedly going to continue relying on Reaves, especially as he gets even better with more reps as the primary creator. He is already coming off of a career-high 38 points in his last game, and has 10 or more assists in six of his last ten games.
At a time, it felt as though Reaves’ ceiling was along the lines of an elite role player. But now, he is defying those expectations and showing himself to be a legitimate star in his own right.
Austin Reaves: cool to still throw lobs to LeBron James
In Austin Reaves’ career night against the Nets on Friday, he passed up the opportunity to get 40 points by throwing a late lob to LeBron James on a fastbreak. After the game, he said that he had other opportunities to get 40 and didn’t capitalize, and he cared much more about making the right play to secure a victory.
He also said that growing up watching LeBron, it’s still cool to be able to throw lobs to him.
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Los Angeles Lakers(96) - Minnesota Timberwolves(103)
