Lakers' Austin Reaves Wants to Go Pro in Another Sport After Retiring from Basketball

Will L.A.'s starting point truly become a two-sport athlete?

Jan 17, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) shoots a 3-point basket in the second half against the Brooklyn Nets at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images | Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Will Los Angeles Lakers starting point Austin Reaves truly become a two-sport athlete?

Apparently, he at least thinks it's a possibility.

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Reaves is a committed golf fiend, with a golf-only TikTok account (for another night, at least) to his credit.

During a new interview on The Backyard Podcast, Reaves revealed that he really, truly intends to make a go of it as a professional golfer.

“Definitely playing a lot of golf. I wanna actually – I want to – I’ve thought about that. I just want to take two years and see if I could play professional somewhere. I don’t care if it’s like – I don’t care if it’s like Korn Ferry," Reaves said, referring to the PGA Tour's developmental Korn Ferry Tour.

Reaves has dabbled a bit at pro golf. He hit the links for the American Century Championship Golf Tournament over the summer. Reaves finished in 13th place for that competition, tying Hall of Fame former shooting guard Ray Allen — they were the top two NBA talents at the event. Reaves notched a +12 for the tournament, but its unique scoring system allocated a score of 47 for his efforts.

Former ATP world No. 7 tennis star Mardy Fish won the 2024 tournament. In 2023, 10-time All-NBA Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry won.

"There’s like an Asian Tour," Reaves added. "I want to take two years and see – like challenge myself – to see if I can get that good. I’m obviously good now, but you have to be a different level of consistently good. And I want to see if I can get there.”

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Reaves still has plenty of NBA life ahead of him.

So far this year, the 26-year-old is enjoying his best season yet for the 22-17 Lakers.

Across 34 healthy bouts, the 6-foot-5 Oklahoma product is averaging a career-most 18.5 points on .443/.367/.829 shooting splits, 6.1 dimes and 4.3 boards a night. He's been able to show off his efficacy at the point, after serving as L.A.'s starting shooting guard in 2023-24.

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