LeBron James and Austin Reaves have built great chemistry together over the last few years with the Los Angeles Lakers and those two are arguably the biggest reasons the team is in the thick of the playoff mix right now.
James doesn’t often trust young teammates, but it was clear early on that Reaves had earned his trust. Despite going undrafted, Reaves quickly worked himself onto the Lakers’ roster and then became a rotation player and eventually a starter. During the 2023 postseason, it was clear that Reaves had taken that next step when James was deferring to him late in games and it worked to the Lakers’ advantage.
According to Taylor Geas of Lakers.com, Reaves didn’t understand why James was being hard on him early in his career, although he later found out it was for good reason:
“I’ll give Bron credit. Ever since day one, I remember my rookie year, he was on my ass for a two-week stretch, and I was getting frustrated. I would mess up in games, and he would critique me a lot. I got real frustrated because I felt like he just kept coming after me. Kept coming after me. But not in a bad way—he just wanted me to be better,” Austin explained. “I went to Phil Handy, and I was like, ‘He needs to give me a break, I’m still learning.’ And he was like, ‘The only reason he’s on you like that is because he believes in you.’”
“From day one, he’s been one of the biggest reasons that I’ve continued to grow.”
“Because I knew,” LeBron said.
“Yeah, you saw it?” he was asked.
“I saw it. I saw it from the beginning. I knew he could play.”
With the recent addition of Luka Doncic, the Lakers now have three perimeter players they can trust to make good decisions with the ball in their hands, either as a scorer or passer.
While it will understandably take some time for them to gel and figure out what works best for the team, the way James and Reaves quickly built chemistry together should help with the process of onboarding Doncic.
Austin Reaves believes Lakers star LeBron James has nothing left to prove
Austin Reaves and LeBron James recently led the Lakers to a victory over the Portland Trail Blazers, combining for 72 points in the second night of a back-to-back.
James dropped 40 points for the second time this season and after the win, Reaves stated that the 40-year-old has nothing left to prove.
“Just having him out there, his approach to the game, like you said he really don’t have anything else to prove and if people say he does, then they’re (Michael) Jordan fans. It’s very impressive just to see his routine. He was in here before the game, him and Mikey (Mancias) were putting in the work. He never stops, which is very impressive because sometimes I just wanna go lay down and take a nap and he’s over there doing some type of treatment. So shoutout to him. Pretty good player.”
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