The Los Angeles Lakers have completely turned their season around since the trade deadline, going from 13th in the Western Conference to seventh and in position to potentially make a postseason run.
The team’s acquisitions have been a big reason for that, although another big factor has been the play of Austin Reaves.
Since going undrafted in 2022 and signing a two-way contract with the Lakers, Reaves has exceeded expectations every step of the way. His role has continued to grow over time with him improving his play, but in recent weeks, he has reached a level that not many expected this early in his career.
One person who did expect it though was LeBron James. After Friday night’s win over the Phoenix Suns, James revealed that he did not have expectations for Reaves going into his rookie season although he knew the Oklahoma alum could play based on watching his college game film. Because of that, James is not surprised with what he’s seen from Reaves.
“I didn’t have expectations for him. When you get an undrafted guy on your roster, you don’t really have much expectations for them,” James admitted. “But I knew the player that we were getting because like I said, I did watch a lot of film on him and saw his ability to play the point, play off the ball. He had a high basketball IQ either being able to make plays for himself or find open guys. I could just see the IQ working every time he was playing the game at Oklahoma.
“So once he got to us and Coach Vogel threw him in the fire kind of right away or early on, you could see that he was capable of playing at this level for a long time. So it was no surprise for me.”
In Reaves’ last 20 games, which is not an insignificant sample size, he is averaging 18.3 points, 3.1 rebounds and 5.7 assists while shooting 56.7% from the field, 42.3% from 3-point range and 85.3% from the free throw line.
Reaves stepped up big in the absence of James and others to keep the Lakers afloat and now is even a permanent member of their starting lineup. He is set to be a free agent this offseason though, so the Lakers will need to open their checkbook in order to keep him around long-term.
Schroder missed Suns game with ‘extreme’ neck soreness
Reaves’ recent hot streak came at the perfect time considering so many other Lakers players have been dealing with minor injuries.
Dennis Schroder got added to that list when he missed Friday night’s game against the Suns with ‘extreme’ neck soreness. Darvin Ham didn’t seem too concerned but said their staff wanted to get ahead of it so it doesn’t become a bigger issue.
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