“If the Lakers ain’t trash, he ain’t playin” – Rashad McCants believes Austin Reaves is overhyped because he’s ‘white’
Rashad McCants isn't buying the Austin Reaves hype. The LA Lakers are currently on a three-game win streak(37-37) that has seen them climb into eighth place in a stacked Western Conference. During LeBron James' 13-game absence, Reaves has helped fuel the Lakers' success with 17.8 points per game and 6.0 assists per game.
With Reaves reportedly ranked fifth in true shooting percentage among players averaging at least 12 points per game, he's drawn plenty of praise. After a big game from Reaves this week, D'Angelo Russell praised his teammates to the media members.
Despite this, Rashad McCants isn't convinced by the statistics or the accolades. According to him, Reaves is getting playing time not only because the Lakers are "trash," but also because he is white. He made the remarks during a recent episode of Gil's Arena.
McCants refused to apologize for questioning Reaves' abilities after Josiah Johnson gave him flowers.
"I ain't apologizing I was cussing y'all out last night. 'What? Stop it! Austin what? $50 million?' At four (years) [for] 25 [million] he's stealing. I'd give him two for seven [million]. Nate ended up doing a one-year two mil, three year, like I look back at those players got cheated from certain contracts.
“I’m like Austin Reaves…nah Franciso Garcia got that shit ... y’all giving [50 million] to him ’cause one he white and one he playing with the Lakers and they trash. So it’s like, if the Lakers ain’t trash, he ain’t playin’.”
As McCants was quickly reminded, Reaves had 25 and 11 points the night before in the LA Lakers' 122-111 victory over the Phoenix Suns. Furthermore, Reaves had been averaging 30 points over the previous two games, scoring 35 in one of them.
According to McCants, the praise heaped on Reaves is reminiscent of Jeremey Lin's famous Linsanity run with the New York Knicks in 2012.
You can see the comments in the video below beginning around the 18-minute mark.
Austin Reaves preparing to hit free agency
The question that sparked the debate was regarding the fact that Reaves is preparing to hit free agency this summer. With his two-year $2.4 million contract up this summer, he'll officially become an unrestricted free agent.
With his recent play, many are expecting the LA Lakers to re-sign Reaves. Thanks to his dominant play recently, he's continued to receive praise from teammates and fans.
This week he spoke about all the praise LeBron James has given him, as quoted by YardBarker:
"For him to accept me the way that he accepted me from Day 1. Obviously, I felt like there was a really good chemistry IQ-wise from Day 1, but not just him. Everybody else.
“I think it was Dennis and Beas throwing water on me on the court. ... Stuff like that means a lot to me. And looking back in 20 years when, hopefully, I’m retired playing golf every day, I can tell my kids and my grandkids that arguably the greatest player ever, it’s social media, so it will be around forever, so they’ll believe me, actually.”
You can see some of his recent highlights in the video below.