After originally going undrafted, Austin Reaves has developed into a really solid NBA player for the Los Angeles Lakers as he heads into his fourth season.
Reaves has been the Lakers’ most dependable player outside of their stars the last couple of seasons and the expectation is for him to take another leap this season under new head coach JJ Redick.
One person who is bullish on Reaves is Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka as in an interview with ESPN LA Sports Radio, he predicted a leap similar to New York Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson in recent years:
“Seeing Austin in some of these scrimmages, like his confidence with the ball, is something that has really stood out and I’m excited for our fans to see that… You look at evolutions of players, and I don’t compare players around the league, but you look at like a great player like a Jalen Brunson and the jump he had from his Dallas days to New York. Is there that delta? I’m not trying to put expectations like that on Austin Reaves, but you can see players develop in big ways throughout their career, and I’m gonna put my tokens down on Austin Reaves to do that just because of the work he puts in and just his fabric and nature. He’s an incredibly tough person and an incredible competitor and those things tend to elevate guys throughout their career.”
As Pelinka said, expecting Reaves to reach Brunson’s level is putting a lot of pressure on him. Any improvement would greatly help the Lakers though as they look to get back into championship contention.
Pelinka added that Redick has issued a challenge to Reaves to also get better defensively this season:
“I think there has also been a challenge. JJ is very direct, you guys covered him as a player. He doesn’t pull punches. He has been very direct with Austin, in particular, like ‘I need you to be a great defender.’ We saw early on in Austin’s career, he would find ways to get in front of guys to take charges, which is one of the best defensive players you can have. It’s a foul on the other team, gets you in the bonus, can potentially take a star player out of the game. He was elite at that, so I think Austin wants to take on that challenge of becoming better on the defensive end.”
Given his efficiency and smart decision-making on the offensive end, if Reaves can get back to being a high-level defender then an All-Star caliber season from the 26-year-old is definitely not out of the question as he enters the prime of his career.
Austin Reaves expected to see uptick in usage
All of the messaging coming from the Lakers is that they want to see Austin Reaves do more for the team this season, and that will reportedly include another uptick in his offensive usage with LeBron James playing more off the ball.
