One of the reasons the Los Angeles Lakers have risen from the ashes over the last couple of months and have now reached the Western Conference semifinals is the emergence of second-year undrafted guard Austin Reaves.
Last season as a rookie, he was an intriguing prospect who displayed plenty of potential. Throughout this season, he has truly started to realize that potential.
He has played well all year, but he picked things up after the All-Star break by averaging 17.6 points and 5.5 assists per game while shooting 57.8 percent overall and 44.3 percent from 3-point range. In the Lakers’ six-game series victory over the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round, he put up 16.5 points and 5.0 assists a contest.
Reaves will be a free agent this summer, and there is some anxiety among Lakers fans as a result, as they saw Alex Caruso, another diamond in the rough, leave in free agency in 2021.
Although Reaves has admitted he is looking for a big payday, he has also expressed the desire to remain with the Purple and Gold.
Via ESPN.com:
“I would love to be here my whole career,” Reaves said. “Just the way that the fans treat me, the love they have for me, as an undrafted player, it’s kind of like they raised me type of vibe. … It feels like it’s meant to be. It feels like this all happened for a reason and this is where I should be.”
He has said he grew up a fan of the Lakers and the late Kobe Bryant, but he will certainly receive generous offers from several other teams. Some feel those offers could approach or even exceed $20 million a year.
After a shaky start to his tenure as the Lakers’ executive, Rob Pelinka has started to gain respect among fans, pundits and his peers for the trades he made during the winter that have essentially performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on the franchise.
He said there’s a “mutual desire” to keep Reaves in the fold beyond this season.
“There’s a mutual desire,” said Pelinka. “… Those are the type of guys you want in your program – that it’s team first, it’s sacrifice everything to win a game, competition above individual stats. That’s kind of what the DNA — especially for our young guys — that we wanted to represent. And he’s an example of that.”
For now, at least, Reaves will play a key role in what is starting to seem like a potential run at an NBA championship for the Lakers.
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