Austin Reaves Discussion: How Much Is He Worth?

You know what's crazy?

It's not like this is unexpected. Maybe if this was year 1 Reaves heading to year 2 Reaves and he dropped 51, we'd be saying "HOLY s***". But I kinda expected this from Reaves.

Every year, his stats are better. He makes improvements and understands the game better. This year, I believe he added some more muscle to his frame which I think has been evident with how he's been able to not get shoved as easily and can get into his spots better.

It's like watching Kobe, tbh. Kobe rookie year, lots of mistakes and boneheaded plays. Second to fourth year, he kept improving and improving. By the time he was in his 5th year, he was an elite player and never looked back. You were expecting him to drop 50 points if the team needed him to.

I guess what I'm trying to say is this: Reaves being this good isn't by accident. You don't get better every year out of sheer luck. It was only a matter of time Reaves was going to have a 51 point game and I'm not going to be surprised when he hits 60. Maybe if he hits 70 I will, though, LOL....

I think the expectation of Reaves is this: If you're the second option, you should be averaging 25 points. If you're the third option, maybe bump that down to 22 points on higher efficiency. But if you're the 1st option because Luka/LeBron are injured, you are expected to drop 35+ because at this point, Reaves has shown he is capable of doing so. We shouldn't be surprised anymore. He's hit another level.

 

According to StatMuse, Reaves now has two 45-point games in his career. He's now tied with Abdul-Jabbar and Chamberlain in the Lakers' all-time list under that category. Next on the list are Doncic, Anthony Davis and Gail Goodrich with three.

 

Mere speculation.
We have zero confirmation wether Barnes or his agent even want a trade to the Lakers.
Plus, he’s yet to make even an All NBA Second team. He’s better defensively than Austin, but hasn’t shown yet that he’s significantly better on offense.

 

Ahh .... "as Lakers". Wasn't in the first post. Still seems hard to believe but OK. He's doing all kinds of rare Lakers stat stuff.

No wait!! Simple google AI search says StatMuse is full of it?

How many times did Wilt Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, as Lakers, exceed 45 points in a game?

Wilt Chamberlain exceeded 45 points in a game
11 times as a Laker, while Kareem Abdul-Jabbar exceeded 45 points 8 times as a Laker. Wilt had a total of 176 such games in his career, while Kareem had 20, but these are the counts for their time with the Lakers.

And where the H was Kobe in their breakdown?

AI Overview

Kobe Bryant exceeded 45 points in
51 games while playing for the Los Angeles Lakers. This total includes:

• Regular season: 46 games.
• Playoffs: 5 games.

Even if StatMuse was saying "exactly 45 points" it's not true. Someone's on crack over there.



AI Overview

Austin Reaves has scored exactly 45 points as a Laker
one time.
This performance took place on February 8, 2025, against the Indiana Pacers, and was his career high at the time. He later surpassed that total with a 51-point game in October 2025.

 

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Yes it strange
Chat GPT
The franchise record for most games with 45+ points is held by Kobe Bryant with 46 games.

Among active Lakers players, the breakdown is:

LeBron James: 27 games of 45+ points.

Luka Dončić: 18 games of 45+ points.

Austin Reaves: 2 games of 45+ points
And chat GPT still think that AD and D-lo are Laker and Luka in Dallas

 

whining about free throws after mugging Austin all night and still losing to a short handed team is quite a choice.

 

Austin's start to the season lends credibility to word that he played hurt in the playoffs last year.

He's come out the gate strong and hopefully will keep it up. The question of how much we should pay him moving forward is real. I've felt like, based on some of the contracts we have seen for other guys, the numbers that have been tossed around seem fair. We will see.

I will concede my earlier trades were off though. Gotta give us at least 6 second round picks for him at this point. Maybe even cash considerations....