Lakers: Austin Reaves Recalls Epic NBA Draft Story

With the NBA Draft coming up, rookie Austin Reaves shares his experience.

When the Los Angeles Lakers drafted Austin Reaves, the team was preparing for a championship-level season. Although after the Lakers ended the season about 20 games under .500, that clearly did not end up happening for LA. However, the Lakers did find success with their rookie, but one question is, what was Austin Reaves' goal when he was drafted? 

In an interview with The LA Times' Dan Woike, Reaves talked about how his agent asked him why he wanted to become an NBA player and what his response was. 

“I looked him in his eyes,” Reaves said. “And I was like, ‘To tell everybody to f— off.’ My whole life, I’ve been too skinny. Not athletic enough. At one point I wasn’t skilled enough. Everybody found excuses for me not to. … It was always, ‘We’re gonna find something about him that he can’t do good enough to make it.’"

Well, in time, Reaves would show everyone who he was. Once the 2021-22 season began the Lakers were quickly falling behind due to injuries and players testing positive for COVID-19. Eventually, this caused the lineup to change often and Reaves even had a few chances to be a starter. 

However, the big moment for Reaves was when he made the game-winning 3-pointer against the Dallas Mavericks in overtime. That night Reaves also ended the game with 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists. 

From then on, the Lakers used Reaves to their advantage with 19 game starts and 61 games played throughout the season. Now Reaves will continue his career in LA after the Lakers signed him to a standard two-year deal.