Austin Reaves has improved in every season since signing with the Los Angeles Lakers as an undrafted free agent, and that continued to start this year.
Reaves was playing at an All-Star level for the Lakers and was a massive reason for their hot start before recently going down with a calf injury.
As Reaves tries to work his way back onto the court, he has been the subject of a lot of talks off it, most notably by LeBron James’ agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports.
Paul first suggested that the Lakers bring Reaves off the bench, and then took it a step further, bringing up the possibility of L.A. trading the guard for Memphis Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr.
This reportedly led to Reaves’ agent confronting Paul at a recent Lakers game, which makes sense considering he is in a contract year and has expressed a desire to remain with the organization long-term.
While his agency may have been irked though, Reaves reportedly paid no mind to Paul’s comments, per Sam Amick of The Athletic:
A Lakers source told The Athletic that Reaves didn’t pay much attention to Paul’s comments, but one of Reaves’ agents approached Paul at halftime of Tuesday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks to discuss.
This should come as no surprise as Reaves has never paid attention to the outside noise. He is focused on getting healthy to return to the lineup for the Lakers as soon as possible as they have greatly struggled in his absence.
LeBron James: Austin Reaves knows how I feel about him
While Paul thinks the Lakers should look to trade Reaves, James made it clear that he does not share those same feelings and maintains a strong relationship with his teammate.
“AR knows how I feel about him,” James told ESPN. “All you got to do is look at us on the bench. Me and AR talk every single day. So, AR knows how I feel about him and I hope AR — or his camp — don’t look at me and think this is words from me are coming through Rich.
“Rich has his perspective of what he sees, I have my perspective. I’m a grown man, he’s a grown man and I think people should realize that grown men can say whatever the f— they want to say and it shouldn’t reflect somebody else is saying it.”
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