Lakers' Austin Reaves Attempting to Qualify for Korn Ferry Tour Event

His basketball season ended a month ago but Reaves is still competing.

Austin Reaves / Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports

Austin Reaves' third season with the Los Angeles Lakers ended nearly a month ago at the hands of the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the 2024 NBA playoffs. But the 25-year-old guard is still finding ways to compete.

On Monday, the Korn Ferry Tour X account, formerly known as Twitter, announced Reaves would be participating in Monday's qualifying round for the Visit Knoxville Open at Holston Hills Country Club in Knoxville, Tn. The tweet came with a video of Reaves taking a tee shot.

Austin Reaves, @NBA guard for the @Lakers is competing in the Monday qualifier for the @visitknoxopen 🏀 pic.twitter.com/nF7uB3mrt0

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) May 20, 2024

That's a pretty good swing for a professional athlete in another sport. And it's impossible to see where the ball went but there was an optimistic, if not confident, pep in Reaves' steps as he walked off the tee.

The Lakers guard will quality for this weekend's tournament if he finishes in the top four of his qualifying round at Willow Creek. In total there are eight golfers who will participate in the tournament coming from qualifying rounds—four from Willow Creek and four from Three Ridges GC, where another qualifying round is being held.

Reaves is apparently putting his money where his mouth is. Back in September he told ESPN's Zach Lowe that he felt he was the best golfer in the NBA. To support that, PGATour.com notes Reaves carries a +2.2 handicap index. That number indicates he is definitely a great golfer. The real question if he is better than, say, Stephen Curry, who is such a noted golf enthusiast that he ended up with his own mini golf show called Holey Moley on ABC. Qualifying for an event on a professional tour would go a long way towards making Reaves' case.

Reaves averaged 15.9 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game over the 2023-'24 season for the Lakers. He put up 16.8 points, 3.6 assists, and 3.8 rebounds per contest in L.A.'s first round loss to Denver. He signed a four-year, $53.8 million contract last offseason.