There are several young players on the Los Angeles Lakers who are candidates to make a significant jump this season. One of them, according to some people, is starting guard Austin Reaves.
Reaves, who went undrafted in 2021, had a revelatory 2022-23 season in which he established himself as an impactful complementary player. He was rewarded with a four-year, $54 million contract last summer, and he responded by increasing his points, assists and rebounding averages this past season.
Some feel Reaves could make yet another significant jump this season, especially under new head coach JJ Redick, and some still feel he has All-Star potential. While on ESPN L.A.’s “Mason & Ireland,” general manager Rob Pelinka said Reaves has shined in offseason scrimmages and seemed to imply the guard could improve the way Jalen Brunson did recently (h/t Sports Illustrated).
“Seeing Austin in some of these scrimmages, like his confidence with the ball, is something that has really stood out and I’m excited for our fans to see that,” Pelinka said. “You look at evolutions of players, and I don’t compare players around the league, but you look at like a great player like a Jalen Brunson and the jump he had from his Dallas days to New York. Is there that delta? I’m not trying to put expectations like that on Austin Reaves, but you can see players develop in big ways throughout their career, and I’m gonna put my tokens down on Austin Reaves to do that just because of the work he puts in and just his fabric and nature. He’s an incredibly tough person and an incredible competitor and those things tend to elevate guys throughout their career.”
Brunson had a quiet start to his career after he was a second-round draft pick in 2018. In his fourth season, he started to emerge during the playoffs as the second scoring option Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks lacked, and he played a big role in getting them to the Western Conference Finals.
He left that summer to join the New York Knicks, and he instantly went from averaging 16.3 points a game during the 2021-22 season to putting up 24.0 points a game. This past season, he registered 28.7 points, as well as 6.7 assists per game, and he was named to the All-Star team and the All-NBA Second Team for the first time. Brunson is now the franchise player on a Knicks team that could end up winning it all next June.
It sounds outlandish and unrealistic to think Reaves could make the type of big jump Brunson achieved in the 2022-23 campaign. But perhaps he could see a modest bump in his scoring, as well as, more importantly, an increase in his shooting efficiency and defensive ability.