3. Austin Reaves
Austin Reaves is the newest member of the Los Angeles Lakers as the Lakers converted his contract to a standard NBA contract. Reaves is an undrafted rookie coming out of Oklahoma that played with the Lakers in the Summer League and impressed enough in his workouts to get a roster spot.
Reaves is not going to have much of a role on this year’s team. He probably is going to get more garbage time minutes and a typical young player in his situation would just because of the age of the team, and the fact that the Lakers are likely going to blow a lot of teams out.
This is a long-term play for the Lakers and I would not even give Reaves the same ceiling as THT. However, he does have a higher ceiling than people may realize and has the makings to be the Lakers’ next hidden gem.
Reaves is a pretty good shot creator, is a really good rebounder for a guard and is someone who has had to hustle for everything he has gotten and will leave it all on the court. That is what made Alex Caruso so great and while Reaves is not the defensive player Caruso is, he has similar heart.
We have seen the Lakers use young players, such as Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk, as trade bait before but Reaves does not have the same trade value. The Lakers are not going to get anything for Reaves and they have an open roster spot for a reason.
Reaves is safe from being traded and if he continues to impress the Lakers he could be a rotation player in LA before we know it.