Austin Reaves signed with the Lakers as an undrafted free agent in 2021, starting 19 out of 61 games. He appeared to take a significant step forward during year two but continued to come off the bench in favor of more experienced players. Even in 2023-24, when Reaves set career-best averages and showcased his skillset in every statistical category, he was still benched for 25 games. In 2024-25, there’s no question about where Reaves stands in the Lakers’ rotations. That is being a solidified starter and being a third-star option behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis as a scorer and playmaker.
Analyzing Austin Reaves’s Impact to Start Season
To Start the Season
Austin Reaves with CONFIDENCE‼️ pic.twitter.com/FlLVrcr1fX
— NBA TV (@NBATV) October 29, 2024
Reaves is currently averaging 18.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.3 steals, and 0.7 blocks. It’s only been three games, but that’s a fair reflection of how balanced his impact has been. His confidence is through the roof to start the 2024-2025 season. Reaves is his own player but is showing spurts of the 2020 Lakers got in Alex Caruso. Reaves is all over the court defensively and offensively, extending possessions and creating for his teammates. His shot-making can be questionable but has been knocking them down at a high rate whether it’s a difficult shot or not. Of course, these numbers are a small sample size only being a few games into the season. However, it shows his excellent skill set that he has on both ends of the floor and has been impressive, to say the least. These numbers are slowly but surely solidifying him as the third option, if not the best guard on the team.
Reaves’ best game so far came during a 123-116 victory against the Phoenix Suns. He shot an efficient 8-12 from the field and hit five 3-pointers. His offensive explosion in the second half helped jumpstart the comeback win. He was able to grab 8 rebounds with 4 assists, 3 steals, and a block. For a guard filling the stat sheet like so just shows you how impactful of a guard Reaves is for the purple and gold. Following the game, Lakers head coach JJ Redick praised just how good Reaves is.
JJ Redick on Austin Reaves, who scored 26 points on 12 FGA’s plus 8 assists and 3 steals: “I knew (Austin) was a great player when I took this job … but I didn’t realize he was this good … he’s a fantastic basketball player.”
— Mike Trudell (@LakersReporter) October 26, 2024
Need the Continuous Impact
Of course, with the Lakers’s season only a few games underway, Austin Reaves has to continue to be the excellent player he is for this team to be successful. Players under rotation for the guards like Gabe Vincent and Max Christie will have to step up when needed. However, we expect and hope for this excellence of Reaves to continue. His individual quality of play to take pressure off the Lakers stars is going to be huge moving forward. You can’t always rely on James and Davis to give you all the production. Reaves being able to be effective off the ball, create for others and all in all being a two-way player is going to be what’s needed for LA to stay in the right direction. With only a few seasons under Reaves’s belt, we don’t exactly know if he has reached his full potential, that being his prime. LA and Lakers nation hopes this level of production and impact continues moving forward for the rest of the season. Ultimately, the end goal is to be contenders in the playoffs and maintain his excellence through.
