Lakers News: Austin Reaves Emerging As Key To Empowering LA Stars

LA's starting shooting guard is on a roll.

Dave McMenamin of ESPN examines how second-year Los Angeles Lakers starting shooting guard Austin Reaves, a restricted free agent this summer, helped open things up for stars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

Reaves scored 23 points in the first game of LA's series against the Memphis Grizzlies, including 14 in the fourth quarter to help bring the Lakers home. His most decorated teammate was pretty darn enthused.

"I don't give a f--- about, like, athleticism; how great you can shoot the ball; how high you can jump; how fast you can run," James told McMenamin after Reaves' terrific Game 1 performance. "I like high basketball IQ guys. Obviously, you got to have that s--- to win a championship. You got to have guys that can do extraordinary s---. But like, I've always had a liking to guys that just know how to play the f---ing game of basketball."

Lakers team president and GM Rob Pelinka spoke with McMenamin about Reaves benefitted from his various in-season trade moves.

"The trade deadline isn't always what you bring in," Pelinka told McMenamin. "It opened up a lane for him [Reaves] to really get on ball a little bit more and kind of show some of the skills that might have been dormant when there were other players playing.... [It was] definitely a consideration around Austin and how do we free up more -- both time for him and then ability to make plays with the ball in his hand. Because the analytics show, he's highly effective."

As McMenamin notes, lineups that included Reaves, James and Davis outscored opposing teams by 14.3 points per 100 possessions across 390 minutes during the regular season, while also being the most stifling defensive lineup for the team, limiting opponents to 102.2 points per 100 possessions.

"I think the brand of basketball we played since the trade deadline, it's been really good," Reaves reflected. "Everybody's been involved in the flow of the offense and then everybody's just making the extra pass. So it's easy, because you've got defenses scrambling

Anthony Davis, too, recognizes Reaves' impact.

"He's a good complement for us," Davis said. "He just knows how to play the game and he's tough. When you put guys like that around me and Bron, kind of the same role as [ex-Lakers champ Alex Caruso]... Guys who just do all the dirty work but also can play, it really complements me and Bron."

Like Reaves, Caruso had graduated from being an undrafted two-way player to a key rotation piece on a playoff Lakers roster.

The 24-year-old out of averaged 16.5 points on .447/.344/.833 shooting splits, 5.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 0.7 steals and 0.5 blocks a night in his team's first playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies. Here's hoping he can repeat that output against the Golden State Warriors, in a series that kicks off on Tuesday.

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