Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves sent a special gift to Kobe Bryant’s nephew for his birthday and brought the young boy to tears.
Shaya Bryant, who is Kobe Bryant’s sister, reached out to former Laker Matt Barnes and desperately pleaded for him to reach out to Reaves for a birthday message for her son.
View this post on Instagram
This was apparently during the playoffs, and the kid got so excited that he was literally moved to tears before he could even press play on the video message from Reaves.
Reaves is off to a hot start this summer after he inked a new four-year, $54 million contract with the Lakers after apparently having interest from both the Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs.
The former undrafted free agent exploded onto the NBA scene as a legitimate starting caliber guard during the 2022-23 NBA season.
Although his regular season averages were modest at 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game, it was the rapid trajectory of his development that really turned heads.
After being in and out of the starting lineup and part of a tumultuous first half of the season with the Lakers, Reaves started a string of 10 games to close out the regular season and averaged 18.3 points and 6.1 assists per game while shooting a scorching 57.1 percent from the field and a dazzling 48.6 percent from beyond the arc. He also shot nearly 90 percent from the free-throw line during that stretch.
The guard didn’t stop there as he took his numbers to even greater heights on the biggest stage of his career. In the Western Conference Finals against the Nuggets, Reaves averaged 21.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.3 assist per game while shooting 54.9 percent from the field, 56.0 percent from beyond the arc and a perfect mark from the charity stripe.
The Lakers brought back most of the same roster from last season, so hopefully with some growing chemistry and continuity, they can go further than just the conference finals this season.
