Austin Reaves Discussion: Overachiever Who Underachieved

25 players in the league play more than 35mpg. the league leader plays 37.5.

 

possibly not. but people shouldn't be surprised if he doesn't play as well after several games of big minutes, either. same as if he doesn't play as well matching up more minutes against starters.

 

Reaves is averaging more playing time than Beasley this month. I don’t think it matters that much who starts. I’m fine leaving the rotation as is.

 

it's possible. it would worry me a bit given his history. i mean, everyone would like to play caruso 35mpg, too, but nobody dares for good reason.

 

His personal best professional game on the HUGE Los Angeles stage under the bright lights .... and two of Austin's best friends 20 of his 24 years were in the stands. Priceless!!!


Austin Reaves has come a long way from a tiny Arkansas town to Lakers ‘MVP!’


Lakers guard Austin Reaves acknowledges the fans as he walks off the court following his 35-point performance in the Lakers’ win over the Orlando Magic at Crypto.com Arena on Sunday night.
(Adam Pantozzi / NBAE via Getty Images)

BY DAN WOIKE
STAFF WRITERFOLLOW
MARCH 19, 2023 UPDATED 10:48 PM PT

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The moment, Austin Reaves has always felt, can wait. The game comes first, the next play the priority.

Reflection is for later.

It’s a mindset that’s allowed none of this to ever feel too big, that it’s always been possible for someone from a tiny farm town to somehow be peers with the best basketball players in the world.

Like in his unofficial audition with the Lakers during a Las Vegas minicamp, Reaves didn’t stop when he found himself guarding Anthony Davis in the post during the team’s first pickup game.




“In my head, it’s like, ‘Kid, you’re trying to guard me? You need to switch. You serious?’” Davis told The Los Angeles Times. “I get the ball, I back him down and he steals it from me.”

But this one, Sunday night in Los Angeles, it needed to be acknowledged.

As Reaves led the Lakers through the fourth quarter of a must-win game against the Orlando Magic, he flipped the ball into the hoop after drawing a foul. As he flexed and the crowd chanted “M-V-P,” he looked into the stands to find his best friends for more than 20 years, Trent Swaim and Keaton Wheeler, cheering in the sea of Lakers fans.

“It’s almost too good to be true,” Reaves told The Times.


Trent Swaim, left, and Keaton Wheeler, friends of Austin Reaves, who grew up in Arkansas with the Lakers guard.

Sunday, he scored a career-high 35 points in the Lakers’ 111-105 win against Orlando, the undrafted guard from a tiny Arkansas town the center of attention in Los Angeles with the friends he cares about most celebrating with him.

“That’s dope as hell,” Davis said.

Reaves showed the different parts of his offensive game. He got to the rim, he left defenders frozen with his footwork and he created space and then contact to get to the free-throw line a career-most 18 times. The Magic, as a team, only shot 17.

Before Reaves electrified the crowd by doing the seemingly unthinkable, Swaim left Reaves impressed by finishing the Los Angeles Marathon in 4 hours 18 minutes despite never having run 26.2 miles before, fighting off leg cramps for the final six-plus miles.

After the race, Swaim waddled into Reaves’ home, took a 30-minute shower and instantly took advantage of the muscle-recovery gear afforded to one of the Lakers’ most valuable players.


Lakers guard Austin Reaves celebrates next to Orlando forward Paolo Banchero after scoring during the second half Sunday.
(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)
Somehow he made it to the game. And somehow, he made it out of his seat as Reaves went off.

“This is the first time Trent’s been in L.A., the first game he’s come to out here,” Reaves said. “For him and Keaton to be here for this...when I got the bucket and it was tied with a minute whatever left, I casually glanced up there. And he ran a marathon this morning, came back in pretty rough shape and couldn’t stand.

“But he was there on his feet, hands in the air. It was almost too good to be true.”

At this point, though, any surprises from Reaves are probably the result of ignorance to his game.


Austin Reaves: His rise from Arkansas farm to Lakers fame
Lakers rookie guard Austin Reaves was nicknamed “Hillbilly Kobe” in college for his flashy play and Arkansas roots. A look at how he rose to stardom.

He’s developed strong rapport with Davis and LeBron James in his time with the team, and in this last stretch with James’ sidelined, he’s played some of the best offensive basketball of his NBA career.

His 35-point outburst comes on the heals of seven-straight double-digit scoring games. Since James got injured in Dallas three weeks ago, Reaves has scored fewer than 13 points just once, the Lakers 6-5 in those games.

In the most optimistic on-the-record assessment to date, coach Darvin Ham spoke pregame about “when” James would return, the absence of an “if” being notable.

“Yeah, we anticipate him coming back at some point,” Ham said.

James tweeted that Reaves is “A BAD MUTHA...SHUT YO MOUTH!!! You toooooo TOUGH!!” after the win.

During the game, he smiled as he sat in the chair at the end of the team’s bench, his legs crossed and arms folded over his knee as the crowd serenaded Reaves with “MVP” chants.

“To hear this crowd chanting MVP, it was shaking the whole stadium,” Swaim said. “It was something you see...well, I’ve never seen anything like it. It was insane.”

“Crazy,” Wheeler said while shaking his head.

The win pushed the Lakers (35-27) back into the top 10 in the West, if only by a fraction, after losses to Houston and Dallas zapped the momentum the team has built since the trade deadline.

Needing to stop that losing streak just at two, Reaves scored 13 points in the fourth, including the final 10 for the Lakers to seal the win.

The crowd let Reaves know that no one else was more valuable.



“Obviously not an MVP-caliber player, those guys are really good,” he said, “but for them to do that for me is special, it means a lot to me.”

And it means even more because Reaves’ closest friends got to experience it with him.

“You never want to take it for granted man and he never takes it for granted,” Davis said of Reaves. “He loves the game. He lives in the moment.”

And the moment on Sunday? It’s one Reaves allowed himself to live in for just a little bit longer.

 

There's definitely going to be teams out there willing to give him $60-70 million dollars. And honestly probably even 80 million. We need to match IMO, even if it's a poison pill contract.

 

I have a question about how the “poison pill” structure works.

I was originally under the impression that only the matching team gets the structure that balloons up in the final two years.

I.e, if another team with $20 million in cap wanted to offer AR a 4 year/$80 million deal, for them it would come out to around $20 million each year. But if we matched, we would have to structure it like ~ $12M, $12M, $28M, $28

But doesn’t the Arenas provision limit AR’s starting salary for any team? So even a team with cap space could only start him at ~$12M, and therefore if they did want to give him a deal with a higher average salary that came out to 4 years/$80 million, THEY would have to also structure it in the way that year 3/4 see a significant pay raise?

If that’s the case, doesn’t it make it extremely unlikely that he gets such an offer and we should be in the driver’s seat to retain him via a simpler Early Bird Rights contract?

 

I think you're right HJ but wouldn't bet my life on it.

 

https://www.denverstiffs.com/platfo...nba-poison-pill-contracts-of-omer-asik-others

This article seems to suggest my original impression was correct. Another team with cap can offer AR a contract that for them would come out to a flat average salary each year, and the structure where it balloons up after Year 2 would only apply to us if we match. That’s unfortunate

Personally, I think you have to match even if that’s how it plays out. If Reaves keeps improving, there’s a chance where him making $28 million in Year 3 in his next contract for us is actually still solid value.

Even if that’s in a post-Lebron era where we may be looking to pivot to a new star, I wouldn’t mind a few transition years where we just roll with a younger core of AR, DLo, Vanderbilt, Christie, etc. Probably not a very high ceiling, but it’d be fun to watch.

Unless there is some young superstar who projects to be a free agent that year for whom we need to keep our cap open for

 

to poison pill us, a team needs to have the amount on hand with regular raises to get to that maximum number (hence the 20 million figure). BUT the offering team can just pay it out regular if they want:

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2021/01/hoops-rumors-glossary-gilbert-arenas-provision-3.html

but again, lots of folks said THT would get such an offer, and he didn't. maybe reaves does, but i think we'd match.

teams have been (and should be) gun shy about making these offers, though, as they haven't worked out great in the past for anyone but the few players who got the offer (and i think it hurt them, too, because they became known as overpaid losers--none of them signed a follow-up contract worth near that amount, iirc).

 

If Wilt could do it, Reaves can too!!

 

if reaves makes 40M/yr and constantly injured while half assing effort every few gms, most here would also get on his case

 

believe me; i know you'll get on someone's case.

by next year, reaves will be on a big contract with expectations, and probably a quarter of the board will decide he's the antichrist when he scores 9 points in a game.

 

Is this you?

 

In before abeer points out he is not. But what the hell difference does it make if he is making plays, scoring the ball, dishing assists and game by game improving his handles. Why put a ceiling or label on him. Great combo guard nowhere near his prime yet is fine if that's what it takes.

 

You have to raise minutes gradually and let players play their way into shape. A guy averaging 27 minutes can't all at once be kicked up to 35 without expecting him to wear down. That is why Ham should have been playing him more all along. He can be bumped to 32 for awhile and then 35 or maybe 35 for short stretches. Along with Lebron and AD being hurt or mentally not with us we have had subpar coaching in many areas. It is a lot for players to overcome. Fortunately we do have some hardnose players.