Austin Reaves has blossomed into a quality second option for the Los Angeles Lakers and may even be on an All-Star trajectory in his fifth season.
With Luka Doncic solidified as the certified No. 1 option, L.A. needs consistent scoring behind him if they hope to become a championship contender. Head coach JJ Redick is trying to establish those roles, along with a culture, that the Lakers have been lacking for a couple of years now.
Doncic is viewed as the vocal leader given his accolades and he is also taking ownership of the team with LeBron James at 40-years-old and not having much time left in the league. However, Redick wants others to lead as well, with Reaves being one, as he challenged him to take that leap this season, via Dave McMenamin of ESPN:
“The biggest thing was him taking a step forward as a leader and recognizing that it’s as much his team as it is LeBron’s team or Luka’s team,” Redick said. “And acknowledging that he does have innate, natural leadership skills and being able to tap into those more consistently. I told him, he’s out of excuses. You’re no longer the undrafted guy who’s a young player. You’re one of the [main] guys now, and he’s been very responsive to that.”
Redick has done a good job of empowering his players to speak up and given Reaves’ ascension as an undrafted player, he deserves to be in this position. The Arkansas native detailed the conversation his coach had with him before the season:
“He basically pulled me in and was like, ‘Obviously this isn’t all on you, but take control. Be a leader,'” Reaves told ESPN. “The same talk over and over again was, ‘Your teammates like you,’ which I don’t even know if they actually do, but he just kept telling me. … ‘You kind of just hiding in the back is over. You have to take control and speak up and be a leader of this team.’”
Throughout these early stages of the season, teams must establish how they want to play on both offense and defense while building chemistry, which the Lakers have already begun to do.
Seeing Redick being proactive to begin the regular season is an encouraging sign and hopefully, these conversations can lead to sustained, long-term success for the Lakers.
Austin Reaves discusses contract situation with Lakers
Austin Reaves being a leader is important as he is due for a big payday this summer and wants to stay with the Lakers. Despite that though, he made it clear that he also will not try to get every dollar possible in free agency so the team can keep some other key players as well.
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