Former NBA Star Jason Richardson Has Strong Words for Lakers’ Austin Reaves

Getty Jason Richardson and Austin Reaves

Former NBA star Jason Richardson has strong words about Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves.

Richardson believes Reaves is the third option on offense for the Lakers behind superstars LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

“Every team has that third option,” Richardson told Christos Tsaltas of SDNA. “And so now when you look at the Lakers, Austin Reaves has become that third option and sometimes he becomes the second or first option because the way he plays the game. He can shoot the ball. He can dribble. He understands the game and he takes a lot of pressure off LeBron and AD. So it’s actually amazing to see the development of how far he has come along. His confidence level is sky-high. Those guys are believing in him. I think he took one of the last shots of the game to seal the game. So that lets you know how good of a player he is.”

Reaves is averaging 16.0 points, 4.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists against the Memphis Grizzlies in the playoffs while shooting 51.4% from the field, 41.7% from beyond the arc and 70.0% from the free-throw line. He’s fourth on the Lakers in points per game, trailing only James, Davis and Rui Hachimura.

LeBron James Adores Playing With Austin Reaves

James, arguably the greatest player in NBA history, loves playing with Reaves. “The King” showered Reaves with praise after the Lakers won Game 1 against the Grizzlies in Memphis.

“We trust him with the ball in his hands early in the game and late in the game,” James said after the Lakers won Game 1. “So we got something going in the fourth quarter, and after every stop or if we didn’t get a stop or whatever, I think Jaren Jackson went on like a 5-0 run by himself when we went up seven, we went back to AR and just put the ball in his hands, he was able to hit a pull-up two, able to hit a three when they kind of had a soft switch and then hit another pull-up two to put us up eight. So he closed the game for us offensively.”

Reaves went undrafted out of Oklahoma and signed a two-way contract with the Lakers in August 2021. Los Angeles converted Reaves’ two-way contract to a regular contract in September 2021 and the rest is history.

“Well it’s not surprising to me,” James said about how well Reaves is playing. “I knew from the first practice that we had when we grabbed him that it wasn’t gonna be long, he wasn’t gonna be a two-way player for long. … I’ve been around the game long enough to know great basketball IQ players and I know the type of players that fit with my game and I knew Austin would be that right away.”

Austin Reaves Wants to Re-Sign With the Lakers This Summer

Reaves told Shams Charania of Stadium on April 10 that he wants to re-sign with the Lakers this offseason. Reaves, who grew up a Kobe Bryant fan, becomes a restricted free agent this summer.

“Yeah I wanna be a Laker,” Reaves told Charania. “Obviously, they gave me the first opportunity. I was a huge Laker fan growing up. Big Kobe fan. So honestly, just to be able to play for the Lakers organization is special and I wanna be a Laker. So hopefully we can get this done and I can stay there for hopefully my whole career.”

The most money the Lakers can offer Reaves is a four-year, $50.8 million contract if they choose to use his Early Bird Rights in restricted free agency, according to a March 20 report from Jovan Buha of The Athletic.