Tucker: Reaves’ Game 1 explosion illuminates importance to Lakers championship window
This column was originally written and submitted on April 17, 2023
I just wrapped up my time at Northwestern University, and over the course of my time there, I submitted several pieces that I never had time to publish. I wanted to retroactively go through and publish some of my work. I’m proud of these pieces, and I think they are vastly superior to any column I had written before this year.
I want to post one old column/piece of mine per day, and there’s no more appropriate column to start with than the emergence of Austin Reaves, who is hooping for Team USA right now. As the subheader reads, this piece was originally written and submitted on April 17, 2023.
If the Los Angeles Lakers go on to upset the Memphis Grizzlies in round one of the Western Conference playoffs, two words will rattle through the minds of Grizzlies fans for years to come: “I’m him.”
Crack off all the jokes you want about “Hillbilly Kobe,” but Lakers guard Austin Reaves is here to stay. Emphasized by his 14-point fourth quarter against the Grizzlies in the playoffs, Reaves holds the keys to the Lakers’ unlikely path to contention and is their most important role player through this postseason and beyond.
On a court featuring LeBron James and Anthony Davis, Reaves was the most composed player in the fourth quarter, supplying the Lakers with a personal 7-0 run. The Grizzlies were right in the thick of the game before Reaves’ run and in the span of just one minute and five seconds, all air was taken from their sails.
James and Davis combined for just three total points scored or assisted between the start of the fourth and the 1:09 mark of the quarter. Reaves and fellow Laker Rui Hachimura scored or assisted on 21 points during that timeframe. The Lakers won those minutes by two points.
Even though it was a coming out party to a national audience, Lakers fans have been familiar with Reaves all year long. Averaging 13 points per game on 52.9% shooting in his 64 appearances, Reaves felt like one of the only stabilizing factors in an inconsistent season for the Lakers.
Before making the playoffs as a seven seed, the Lakers began the season 2-10. The lottery looked more certain than the play-in, let alone the playoffs. The Lakers underwent a tumultuous season, with trades and injuries dominating headlines. The result were flat-out baffling box scores, such as a loss to the bottom-feeding Houston Rockets in March, followed up by winning seven of their subsequent nine games.
For most teams, such a rollercoaster season would lead to an early bowing out of the postseason. But in Game 1 of the Grizzlies series, the Lakers didn’t look like a No. 7 seed. Reaves didn’t allow them to.
Of course, Reaves isn’t the only consistent factor on the Lakers. Dennis Schroder, Wenyen Gabriel and Troy Brown Jr. all survived the mid-season roster purge and played in more games than Reaves. D’Angelo Russell and Hachimura looked great in Game 1 too.
But none of those players offer the combination of composure, scoring chops and efficiency that Reaves displayed in Game 1 along with the consistency and longevity that makes Reaves a Laker staple.
Reaves hit some shots in the first and second halves of Game 1 but really popped off the screen when he pump-faked a three in the corner before driving the baseline and kicking it behind the back to Hachimura, who hit the three.
Just a few moments later, Reaves drove the left side elbow for a jumper. Then, with the Lakers only up three and James wide open to his right, Reaves heaved a three from the top of the arc that was pure money.
If you didn’t know Reaves was not only important to the Lakers’ success, but integral to it, it’s impossible not to after seeing Reaves’ confidence in his playoff debut.
It feels like everything has been building up to this moment. Reaves signed with the Lakers as an undrafted free agent following the 2021 NBA draft. Reaves told teams he did not want to be selected late in the second round, instead choosing to hit the open market and picking the team he felt he had the best chance to stick around with. Reaves picked the Lakers and, in just his second season, is making an impact at the highest level.
Regardless of what happens in this series, Reaves fits right in place as a starter. In fact, his presence in such lineups grades out well, according to Synergy. But as a result of the type of deal Reaves signed with the Lakers, he’s set to hit restricted free agency after the postseason concludes.
Game 1 put an exclamation point on the type of contract Reaves will get — one that will likely be north of the near-$37 million contract former Laker Alex Caruso signed in 2021. Despite wishes to not be compared to one another, Reaves’ and Caruso’s off-court situations are similar. The Lakers cannot afford to let what happened with Caruso happen with Reaves.
In an ill-fated 2021 offseason, the Lakers had every chance to reward the undrafted guy who hustled and became a rotation staple. The Lakers didn’t and he eventually walked because they didn’t see what they had. Caruso, who had been a stabilizing force and one of the best perimeter defenders on the roster, is now one of the best defenders in the league on a contract that feels like a bargain.
With Reaves outright dominating the Grizzlies in Game 1, the pressure is now on for the Lakers to continue to put Reaves in a position to succeed. Doing so could pay dividends to the Lakers’ championship window not only this season but for years to come.
Reaves bought into the Lakers, now it’s time for the Lakers to repay the favor and accept him as not just a role player, but one of their feature players, before it’s too late.