Getty Austin Reaves #15 of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Los Angeles Lakers rising star Austin Reaves has played a lot of basketball this year.
After the Lakers playoff run ended in May, Reaves began practicing with Team USA for the 2023 FIBA World Cup in early August. And, before embarking on what the Lakers hope will be another extended season including the playoffs, the team is taking a cautious approach with the $53.8 million (over four years) man.
According to Jovan Buha of The Athletic, Reaves did not participate in the first day of training camp but was active on Day 2, much to the starting shooting guard’s – per, head coach Darvin Ham – dismay.
“Hey, it wasn’t my …,” Reaves said stopping short, per Buha on October 5. “I don’t know. Anytime I’m in the gym, I want to play, so I was sitting over there trying my best to stay the course.”
He will also miss the preseason opener, per Mike Trudell of Spectrum Sportsnet on October 6.
Austin’s sauciest plays — roll the tapes 🍝
Reaves, 25, played a career-high 1,843 minutes last season.
That number figures to skyrocket as he started just 22 of his 64 appearances, with 10 coming in the Lakers’ final 10 regular season games. He was also third in minutes on Team USA during the World Cup leading to a collaborative decision, per Ham, including general manager Rob Pelinka and the athletic staff.
“I’m ready to get back to work now, but there’s some stuff we got to build up to,” Reaves said, per Buha. “But we’ll build up to that, and whatever they decide to do playing-wise in the preseason is what I’ll do.”
LeBron James to Miss Lakers’ Preseason Opener
Trudell reported on October 5 that LeBron James will also miss the opener as the Lakers follow their “pattern” from the last few years and monitor his minutes in his age-39 season. James has been playing like a “freight train” during the early going of training camp, per Buha but Ham and the Lakers are still being cautious.
“He’s in phenomenal shape,” Ham said, per Trudell. “He’s probably played more than the rest of our roster combined.”
Heading into his 21st NBA season, James is third on the all-time list with 54,093 minutes played in his career. He is 759 minutes from passing Karl Malone for second place and should have no problem passing that mark after logging more than 1900 minutes last season despite injuries.
Two more seasons at that pace and James will assume the top spot from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Improved Depth Could Elevate Lakers
The Lakers were 13-14 without James last season but had a highly-regarded offseason which has bolstered their confidence that they can be better than last year’s team that shook off a 2-10 start to reach the Western Conference Finals.
“I think the sky is the limit for what we will be able to do,” Ham said, per Leonard Solms of ESPN on August 14. “I think we added a lot of depth, a lot of guys that have skill, size and athleticism, so I look forward to all of that coming together.”
Reaves agreed that the new pieces should only benefit them as they look to get off to a faster start.
“I feel really, really good about what we did,” Reaves said, per Sam Yip of HoopsHype on August 9. “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.”