Lakers News: Longtime NBA Vet Loves Growth Of Austin Reaves In Second Season
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Second-year Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves has earned a rave review from longtime NBA veteran JJ Redick. The former 15-year role player was a critical part of several high-level playoff teams, and is a pretty good appraiser of modern NBA talent (let's avoid wading into the murky waters of his controversial statements about the players of yesteryear). Thus, when Redick proclaimed on his podcast "The Old Man And The Three" that Reaves is the real deal, LA fans stood to attention.
"Austin Reaves has had a really good basketball season. He's been particularly great over his last 11 games," Redick raved. "A little under 18 a game, over five assists. So he's expanding his repertoire, he's expanding his bag, playmaking. He's at 38% for the season from three. He shot a shade under [40%] for his last 11. He had 35 [points] last night against the Orlando Magic in a comeback win. So for me, one of the complaints I had about the Lakers and their roster was that there weren't any young guys that provided a lot of hope. Now I know they were very high on Talen Horton-Tucker. He did not have a good second full year in the rotation, ultimately he got traded to the Jazz. And outside of him there wasn't anybody really to get excited about."
Here are the exact numbers for Reaves' last 11 games: he's averaging 17.7 points on .564/.395/.825 shooting splits, 5.3 assists, 3.0 rebounds, and 0.6 steals a night.
"But I'm excited about Austin Reaves not just because he can shoot the basketball. He has shown off the dribble some real moxie," Redick continued. "He's been featured on House of Highlights and SportsCenter, he crossed up Giannis not too long ago. It's all those things, but he has an intangible, and that is toughness. He's a dick... The guy competes every night. Winning and losing matters to him. We've seen him make big shots, buzzer beaters... He has a level of mental and physical toughness that I love. Those are the type of guys that LeBron James also loves."
Reaves will be a restricted free agent this season. He is expected to earn something north of $10-12 million annually, in range of the full mid-level exception for 2023-24. Will LA keep him around for that price? The team sure should.
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