The Los Angeles Lakers finished the 2024-25 NBA regular season with 50 victories, their highest total in the last five seasons. That’s enough for the 17-time NBA champions to earn the third seed in the highly competitive Western Conference playoffs.
This placement gives them an opportunity to have home court advantage against the Minnesota Timberwolves in their first-round showdown. Interestingly, the Lakers last won 50 games during the Covid-shortened 2019-20 season, leading to an NBA championship in the bubble at Walt Disney World, Florida.
While superstars like LeBron James and Luka Doncic had massive contributions to the Lakers’ success, they wouldn’t get that many victories without combo guard Austin Reaves. The former Wichita State and Oklahoma standout worked his way up from an undrafted talent to a bona-fide starter.
However, the Arkansas-born player isn’t just a role player in J.J. Reddick’s rotation anymore. Instead, he has become one of their top options, as proven by his increased scoring average. This significant transformation to Reaves’ game caught the attention of Golden State Warriors forward/center Draymond Green and former NBA point guard Baron Davis.
The two NBA All-Stars even went as far as selecting Reaves as the rightful winner of the 2024-25 Most Improved Player award. “He (Reaves) was undrafted to making a name for himself. To stay on the Lakers to then becoming a bona fide NBA star, and then went from 15 to 20 points a game with LeBron and Luka still in the mix.” Davis said about Reaves in the April 17 episode of Green’s eponymous podcast.
While his rebounds and assists averages remained relatively the same, Austin Reaves increased his scoring average from 15.9 points last year to 20.2 this year. He contributed more in the stat sheet, even if Doncic would take away some possessions.
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Meanwhile, Green alluded to Davis’s props for Reaves, saying, “There’s a big difference in the NBA of averaging 15 points to 20 points. You may look at that and say ‘Oh, that’s only five points.’ That’s the difference in some games.”
While Reaves is putting up solid numbers, he’s doing it while the Lakers pay him $12.9 million this season. If Reaves can sustain this level of production, Green believes the fourth year player could have a massive payday.
“That’s also the difference in someone making $15 million a year and someone making $35 million a year. When I look at Austin Reaves, he’s been arguably the best third option in basketball when presented the opportunity.” Green said in closing the discussion with Davis.
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