Lakers News: Even JJ Redick Has Been Surprised by Austin Reaves' Start to Season

Ricardo Sandoval | Oct 26, 2024

Oct 22, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach JJ Redick signals a play beside guard Austin Reaves (15) during the fourth quarter against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images / Jason Parkhurst-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Lakers look like they will prove the doubters wrong through two games of the season. L.A. is off to a great start; they sit at 2-0 with a chance to move to 3-0 on Saturday night against the Sacramento Kings.

The Lakers have been great thus far, led by their superstar center Anthony Davis. Davis has been a man on a mission thus far, but he hasn't been doing it alone.

Although Davis has been great, he's been receiving a ton of help from starting shooting guard Austin Reaves. Reaves had his best game of the season from the two games on Friday night against the Phoenix Suns, 123-116.

Reaves was the team's second-leading scorer, and he was impressive—so much so that his head coach, JJ Redick, has been impressed with him from what he's seen from him thus far.

Redick told the media after the game, including Jovan Buha of The Atheltic, that he knew Reaves was good but not this good.

JJ Redick on Austin Reaves: “I knew he was good. I didn’t realize he was this good.”

— Jovan Buha (@jovanbuha) October 26, 2024

“I knew he was good. I didn’t realize he was this good.”

Reaves was coming off a modest performance in the season opener on Tuesday against the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he went 6-of-14 overall and 0-of-5 from 3-point range. Reaves managed to collect 12 points with nine rebounds.

On Friday, however, he was incredible, recording 26 points on 8-of-12 field-goal shooting and 5-of-7 from downtown. He also recorded eight assists, three steals, four rebounds, and one block.

Redick believes that Reaves can reach a new level in his game, and thus far, he seems to like what he's seeing from the former Oklahoma Sooner. The 26-year-old has improved every season in his career. His points per game numbers have jumped along with his assists, rebounds, steals, and minutes.

Last season was a solid one for Reaves. It started off slow for him, and it was rocky as he came off the bench at certain points; however, he did play the entire season, with 57 starts in 32.1 minutes per game.

Although the sample size is small, Reaves is averaging 36.5 minutes per game this season and is well on his way to a new career-high in points per game at 19.0.

The Lakers will need players like LeBron James and Davis to carry the load when things matter most, but Reaves is not too far behind them in that category.

More Lakers: LeBron James Reveals How Many Games He Plans to Play in During 22nd Season