The Los Angeles Lakers believe in Austin Reaves. After five fruitful years in their internal development program, Reaves was handed a four-year, $180 million contract that not only signals faith in his abilities, but indicates that they believe he can reach a star-caliber level in 2026-27.
In order for Reaves to bridge the gap between where he is and where he needs to be, however, he must improve in two key areas—one of which is on defense and another is on offense.
Reaves is coming off of a season during which he averaged 23.3 points, 5.5 assists, 4.7 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 2.3 three-point field goals made per game. Those are excellent numbers in a system that had three ball-dominant players with he, Luka Doncic, and Austin Reaves.
Reaves also maintained a high level of efficiency, shooting at a clip of .490/.360/.871 and posting an eFG% of .567 that comfortably cleared the league average of .546.
In saying that, Reaves was making an average of $13,456,968 per season on his previous contract and will now make an average of $45 million per year. In the simplest of terms, his contract absorbs more of the cap and he must therefore scale his impact accordingly.
Making the leap from borderline stardom to being a true No. 2 on a championship contender will mean addressing the flaws that have prevented Reaves from doing so up to this point.
2. Three-Point Shot Quality
Reaves is an excellent all-around offensive player, but he's fallen short of expectations in the playoffs in recent years. That's particularly transpired beyond the arc. He shot 44.3 percent from distance during the Lakers' run to the 2023 Western Conference Finals, but has shot 26.9, 31.9, and 25.7 percent from three in the three years since.
There may be an explanation for Reaves' sharp decline in efficiency from his regular season marks of 36.7, 37.7, and 36.0 percent during those same three years: His shot quality simply isn't sufficient.
According to Basketball Index, Reaves ranked in the third percentile in three point shot quality in 2025-26. It's unavoidably impressive that he still ranked in the 86th percentile in three point shot making efficiency, but that skill clearly isn't translating to the playoffs.
As such, Reaves must make it a priority to seek out better looks at the basket during the 2026-27 regular season to develop healthier habits for the playoffs.
Knocking down low-efficiency shots is absolutely a part of a star's job in the NBA. If those shots aren't falling for Reaves, however, then he must do a better job of creating efficient looks for himself or allowing his teammates to do so for him.
After shooting 40.4 percent on catch-and-shoot threes and 32.2 percent on pull-up threes in 2025-26, Reaves should lean into his strengths until his self-created jumpers fall more frequently.
1. Fighting over ball screens on defense
The Lakers have invested in their defense by bringing in Quentin Grimes and Walker Kessler as potential starters. Grimes should alleviate a great deal of pressure as an excellent guard defender, while Kessler is an elite rim protector who should make the perimeter players' jobs significantly easier.
That doesn't change the fact, however, that Reaves' greatest flaw on defense is how poorly he's performed when having to fight over screens—a pivotal postseason ability.
Reaves' defense has been underrated to a degree. In 2025-26, he ranked in the 68th percentile in perimeter isolation defense and the 97th percentile in off-ball chaser defense, per Basketball Index. The hurdle that makes it irresponsible to downplay his flaws, however, is that ball screens tend to take him out of plays.
In 2025-26, Reaves ranked in the 19th percentile in ball screen navigation—a difficult number to overlook in an era where ball screens are all but unavoidable.
For the Lakers to contend, Reaves must improve in this regard. Teams will target him with ball screens and drag Kessler away from the paint, and the Lakers already have an inconsistent defender they've had to hide on defense in the past in Doncic.
If Reaves can address his weaknesses ahead of and during the 2026-27 season, however, then Doncic will have the ideal co-star to help the Lakers make a run at a title.
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