Austin Reaves career year coming amid season of constant change
No one on the Lakers has seen their role change more than Austin Reaves, who has still put together a career year.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Lakers have asked a lot of Austin Reaves this season.
Every NBA team expects a lot of any player, especially one paid as well as Reaves, but the asks of the Lakers haven’t been normal.
They’ve asked him to be a lead playmaker. They’ve asked him to be a defensive stopper. A No. 1 option. A No. 2 option. Third fiddle. A shot-maker. A shot-creator.
At some point this season, they’ve asked him to be just about everything possible.
No player on the roster this season has had their role change more than Reaves. As the Lakers have gone through numerous iterations of their team, Reaves has been tasked with different responsibilities.
Yet through his ever-changing role, Reaves has not only seamlessly adapted on the fly, he’s put together a career year in the process. Across the board — points, rebounds, assists, steals — Reaves is having his best season in Los Angeles despite all the change that has come with it.
“It says a lot about him as a person,” Redick said prior to Wednesday’s game against the Pacers, a contest in which Reaves’ huge second quarter played a big role in his win. “It’s not easy, night to night, to have your role change. I see a lot of myself in him, to be honest with you. Not just because we’re white guards in the NBA. We’re both d---heads.
“But the way he’s able to just figure it out on the fly, I always say there’s a lot of guys whose role and what they’re asked to do from game to game, Game 1 to Game 82, it doesn’t change. That can be a guy like Vando. It can be a guy like LeBron. We’re not asking those guys to change how they play. Austin’s had to do that for the function of the different iterations of our team and he’s adapted on the fly extremely well.”
Take a mid-February stretch, for example, to look at how often Reaves’ role has changed this year. Against the Warriors on Feb. 6, Reaves played alongside LeBron but without Luka Dončić, scored 23 points and helped the Lakers to their fourth straight win.
Thirty-six hours later, he suited up against the Pacers as the No. 1 option with both LeBron and Luka sitting out. He poured in a career-high 45 points on 14-26 shooting, leading an undermanned Lakers team to a win.
Two days after that, Reaves, LeBron and Luka featured together for the first time. Reaves scored 22 points with nine rebounds as the Lakers won a sixth straight.
Three different roles in three different games with three 20-point games, a microcosm of Reaves’ season.
“I never see him complain about what role he’s playing,” Luka said. “[whether] he’s the No. 1 option, No. 2 or No. 3. He never complains. He just sticks with it and it’s amazing to see. That’s a guy you want on your team.”
Throughout his career, Reaves has been someone forced to adapt to new situations in order to find success. After being a ball-dominant guard in college, Reaves entered the NBA as a scrappy, energy guy off the bench.
When he eventually blossomed offensively with the Lakers, it led to one of the defining moments of his career in the playoffs against the Grizzlies. That performance also served as the moment his relationship with LeBron changed.
No longer was he one of the role players allowed to drift in and out of games during a season. The expectations, now, were higher.
“You really got to hand it to that kid for what he’s been able to do for how he’s adjusted and adapted,” Rick Carlisle said ahead of the Pacers meeting with the Lakers. “It’s another great example – and this is just kind of my take from afar – of a young guy with some skill and ability who gets with a guy like LeBron James early in his career, and one of the other things that’s amazing about LeBron and, really, Luka, too, is these guys have the ability to give young players confidence.
“LeBron’s belief in Reaves is something that can bring a kid like Reaves to a complete other level.”
Another level is where Reaves has gone.
Now, even if he’s not immediately mentioned with the likes of Luka and LeBron, his name typically follows shortly after. That trio is still figuring out exactly how the trio will take shape, but Reaves is squarely in the middle of it.
It comes after he’s been the point guard, the No. 2 guy, No. 1 guy, the shot-maker, the shot-creator. He’s had every label this season.
But the one label that will stick to his season after all is said and done? Career year.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude or on Bluesky at @jacobrude.bsky.social.