Lakers Role Player Believes Team's New Free Agent Signings Can Help LA Reach Finals

We can only hope!

Your Los Angeles Lakers have added a variety of new additions to their roster, in signing former starting Miami Heat point guard, Gabe Vincent, ex-Minnesota Timberwolves forward Taurean Prince and former frontcourt lottery picks Jaxson Hayes and Cam Reddish. LA also drafted wings Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis in this year's draft.

LA shooting guard Austin Reaves seems fairly optimistic that his new teammates can help push the Lakers over the top for the 2022-23 NBA season, having gone as far as the 2023 Western Conference Finals, as he explained to Sam Yip of HoopsHype.

“I feel really, really good about what we did,” Reaves reflected. “You bring back the core that went to the Western Conference Finals and those pieces fit really well with what we kinda need because we lacked that last year. Overall, everybody’s competitive, and we kinda got that taste last year of running it back and trying to win a championship.”

Reaves also discussed how he evolved from being an undrafted rookie free agent out of the University Oklahoma in the summer of 2021 into a starting shooting guard on a Western Conference Finalist, to the tune of a lucrative new four-year, $53.8 million contract, in the summer of 2023.

“That’s kind of how it’s always been my whole life,” Reaves noted. “I’ve really bet on myself and really always just knew I needed an opportunity. Just put my foot down and the rest will take care of itself. I’ll figure out something to do and to at least be on the team and help the team so that was really it and hell yeah, it’s a big relief.”

We're relieved too, Austin. 

That's what happens when you average 16.9 points on .464/.443/.895 shooting splits, 4.6 assists, 4.4 boards and 0.6 steals as a starting wing across 16 playoff games for a team in the NBA's final four.

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