Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves agreed to a team-friendly, $56 million deal with the storied franchise in the offseason.
Reaves reportedly received consultation from teammates Anthony Davis and D’Angelo Russell during free agency.
“Reaves had talked with some of his Lakers teammates about his impending future, especially Davis and D’Angelo Russell, two teammates with whom he’s grown especially close,” Mirin Fader wrote. “‘We had a very good feeling that L.A. was going to offer the [max] right away, and I asked [Russell and Davis] if I should take that or if I should wait. And they both gave me their opinions, and I took it to heart, because I feel like both of those guys, we have real relationships on the court, off the court.'”
Reaves first joined the Lakers after going undrafted in the 2021 NBA Draft. During his rookie season with the team, the 2021-22 season, he served as a quality role player. The 6-foot-5 guard averaged 7.3 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game across 61 games with Los Angeles during the regular season (19 starts).
For as solid as Reaves’ rookie season was, he improved his numbers across the board in the 2022-23 season, his sophomore season. The 25-year-old was one of the best bench players in the league a season ago, seeing as how he averaged 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game in 64 regular-season appearances (22 starts). Reaves also shot the ball with fantastic efficiency from the field, as he converted 52.9 percent of his field-goal attempts and 39.8 percent of his 3-point attempts.
Meanwhile, Davis has played 11 seasons in the NBA, including his last four with the Lakers franchise. He averaged 25.9 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 56.3 percent from the field in the 2022-23 regular season. Also, Davis was elite on the defensive end for the team, as he averaged 2.0 blocks and 1.1 steals per game.
Now that Reaves has inked a lucrative contract with the Lakers and knows that he’ll be with the team for the foreseeable future, he won’t have to deal with any distractions regarding his future, as he did a season ago when his free agency was looming.
Hopefully, as a result, Reaves will play even better during the 2023-24 regular season than he did during the 2022-23 regular season.
