"It's going to be hell": Austin Reaves recounts mindset when opposition players briskly wanted to guard him
LA Lakers guard Austin Reaves has always played with a chip on his shoulder, and it has served him well in steadily establishing a solid basketball career.
Now in his third year playing for the Purple and Gold after going undrafted in the 2021 NBA rookie draft from the University of Oklahoma, the 25-year-old has become a more important component in the Laker rotation.
Austin Reaves credited his continued development to the mindset that he has always had of constantly proving his doubters wrong, which started as early as he began playing competitive basketball.
In a recent episode of "The Old Man & The Three" podcast of former NBA player JJ Redick, the Team USA member shared:
"I walk on the court and everybody be like, 'I got the white boy.' I'm like, 'It's going to be hell.'... I'm just real confident in the work that I put in."
In the ongoing NBA season, Reaves is the fourth leading score for the Lakers with 15.2 points per contest in 30 minutes of play. He also has norms of 4.9 assists and 4.6 rebounds for the Lakers (15-13), who are currently eighth in the Western Conference.
During the offseason, he was part of Team USA which saw action in the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
He did well playing for the national team, finishing as the squad’s second-leading scorer with 13.8 points per game, behind only Minnesota Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards (18.9 ppg). He also had 2.8 rpg, 2.4 apg and 1.3 spg.
Team USA finished in fourth place in the World Cup, but still booked a spot in the Olympic Games next year in Paris.
Austin Reaves is happy to have gained trust of superstar teammate LeBron James
With his continuously evolving game, Reaves is happy to have gained the trust of LA Lakers superstar LeBron James.
The former Oklahoma Sooner said he felt that during their opening-round playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies last season.
It came in the fourth quarter of one of their games when James asked him to get the ball and create something.
Reaves shared on the same podcast with Redick:
“I remember in the fourth quarter when I had it going, there was a shot … Bron’s got the ball and I get to half court, and I hear him yelling my name. He was like, ‘Come get the ball.’ I was like, ‘Oh s---,’ I got to make something good happen. …I can’t make him look stupid…
“Everybody’s probably looking at him sideways for giving me the ball, but it ended up working thank God. And after that, I kind of sit there after the game trying to fathom what actually just happened.”
The Lakers moved on to defeat the Grizzlies in their first-round playoff series, 4-2, with Austin Reaves a key part with averages of 16.5 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5 assists.