Austin Reaves Discussion: Foundation Piece Or Trade Piece?

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Lakers Insider Says There's Real Problems Between Austin Reaves And Darvin Ham

Darvin Ham reportedly doesn't jive with Austin Reaves.

In the middle of another mediocre season, many Lakers fans are wondering why Austin Reaves has seen limited minutes on the court this season. Lakers coach Darvin Ham has tried his best to come up with an explanation, but NBA insider Anthony Irwin says there's actually something deeper going on.

"This possible thing between [Reaves] and Ham is... something. I'm here to tell you, I've heard it very clearly, that for whatever reason, Ham doesn't mess with Austin the way that you would think he would. This might escalate all the way to where an agent gets involved or the front office gets involved and people start asking what is going into these decisions?"


The Lakers have had an up-and-down year so far marked by many highs and lows. But since winning the in-season tournament in early December, the Lakers have been a shell of themselves on both ends of the floor. Reaves was supposed to be the next guy up behind LeBron and Davis this season but his awkward place in the rotation has left a lot of doubt about this long-term role. And while he is currently the favorite for Sixth Man of the Year, there is a feeling he could do so much more.

Limited Minutes For Austin
With LeBron at 39 years old and Anthony Davis' extensive injury history, the Lakers desperately needed someone to step up and provide a consistent spark for the group. After helping the Lakers on a run to the West finals last season, Austin Reaves was tapped to be that guy for them but he's been solid so far with averages of 15.1 points, 5.0 assists, and 4.6 rebounds per game. The problem is that he's still coming off the bench for the Lakers, and he's averaging just 29.2 minutes per game.

All season long, Ham has made it a point to keep Reaves under 30 minutes despite being one of their most reliable scorers. After a brief stint in the starting lineup, he was relegated to the bench in favor of D'Angelo Russell, and now Taurean Prince. If the Lakers are going to make a run this season, Reaves will have to play a bigger role on the team and Ham will have to start giving him more playing time on a consistent basis. Of course, some think Ham himself is the problem.

At 17-17, things could turn ugly soon for Ham if the Lakers don't start winning more consistently. Between this thing with Austin, the poor performance, and the questionable rotations, the calls for his job are getting louder by the day and the only path to silencing the critics is by winning in convincing fashion.

 

30mpg is fine for reaves, too. again, i agree with ham that he needs his minutes kept around that level to play the way he does.

 

He should be back in the starting lineup IMO if DLO to continue on the bench.

An AD/Lebron/Cam/Prince/AR lineup is a good combination of offense/defense. Try to keep 2 of the big 3 on at the same time is what I would aim for.

 

i'd rather

dlo/reaves/vando/lebron/AD

but if i can't have the lineup that turned the season around last year, i'd take reaves in the starting lineup.

i'd probably keep vando there over either prince or reddish, though.

 

I gave a Like to both posts ….. over what numbnuts is farting around with, wasting time with a “starting lineup” that CAN’T be played against the elite competition in the playoffs. Versus if he wants to see those five players together, doing it off and on in limited fashion during his rotation choices.

But ^^^ THIS!! We turned the damn season around immediately with THOSE 5 guys starting after the deadline, plus getting rid of Russ. And Vando took on the likes of Morant and Curry for crissakes and slowed them way down from their normal and what they would have done to DLO or Reaves. Who got other assignments more suitable. So Vand is finally back and Ham gives the middle finger to continuity (which is another of his BS preaches) and not once has he tried THAT lineup!

 

I don't have an issue with Reaves minutes. Some players can't handle heavy minutes. Not sure if we know if he's one of those guys yet or not, but personality issues can exist for sure.

I good coach pulls the player aside and hashes that ish out. If he's not doing that, he's not doing his job.

 

this, and i'm saying the same thing about dlo. there's obviously friction between him and other parts of the organization. how about you try to sort that out instead of just benching him and going without any guards in the starting lineup?

 

yeah... im going to blame pimple moron for all of this. Occam's razor, you know.

 

Hey man, Ham is finally reading this forum and trying to implement all the things people are saying here!! LOL

 

Its really weird that the DLo/Reaves/LeBron/Vando/AD lineup has gotten so little run after grading so well last season. I understood wanting to split up DLo and Reaves when Reaves was struggling, but he's been playing well for a while now.

 

“Little”? How about zero … zip …. nada?

 

I don’t remember seeing these guys playing together at all this season

 

Interesting decision with D'Angelo and Gabe out. Now we start our remaining two PG together. I guess the starters are going for 35+ minutes tonight.

 

My goodness this guy is worse that Luke and I called him Black Luke Walton before but he is worse