The Los Angeles Lakers have accomplished one of their biggest priorities for this offseason by retaining guard Austin Reaves on a four-year deal.
It’s just the latest move the Lakers have made this offseason. Rob Pelinka and company seem to be making all the right moves so far.
There were plenty of people across the NBA world who believed Reaves would initially sign an offer sheet worth nearly $100 million before returning to the Lakers.
With tons of big deals getting done on the first day of free agency, perhaps Reaves didn’t receive those types of offers from teams with cap space.
Reaves is coming off a 2022-23 season in which he averaged 13.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game on 52.9 percent shooting from the field and 39.8 percent shooting from beyond the arc.
He really took off in the 2023 NBA Playoffs by raising his averages to 16.9 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.6 assists per contest. He also improved his 3-point shooting to a blistering 44.3 percent.
The former undrafted free agent has come a long way after all 30 NBA teams passed on him the 2021 NBA Draft. Reaves found his way onto the Lakers via a two-way contract that was converted to a standard contract less than two months later.
During his rookie season, Reaves showed he was capable of being a solid role player, starting in 19 games. However, much of his individual success was overshadowed by the fact that the Lakers struggled with injuries and chemistry issues. They wound up not even making it to the postseason.
Last season, however, the Lakers were able to overcome lots of adversity in order to make it all the way to the Western Conference Finals against the eventual champion Denver Nuggets.
Reaves showed out in that series despite the Lakers getting swept by recording 21.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 5.3 assists nightly while making 54.9 percent of his shots from the field and an absurd 56.0 percent of his 3-pointers.
With two NBA seasons under his belt, the best is surely yet to come for the University of Oklahoma product.
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