2. Avery Bradley
Avery Bradley has played pretty well for the Los Angeles Lakers thus far this season. While he has not been fantastic or anything, he has had a much bigger impact on the team thus far than was projected when the Lakers signed him right before the season started.
Bradley’s tenure with the Lakers was bound to be short when he signed. He signed a non-guaranteed deal and if there was any sort of in-season buyout target Bradley would have been the first to go.
With Bradley playing well you can talk yourself into the Lakers keeping him all season. That will become harder once the Lakers get healthy and Bradley stops playing as much in favor of the developmental player in Reaves.
Wayne Ellington’s return will cut into some of the minutes that Bradley is playing. However, Bradley could still have a small role as Ellington will cut into some of Bazemore’s minutes, leaving some minutes for Bradley to play.
When Talen Horton-Tucker returns it is hard to see Bradley playing at all. There are only 240 minutes to allocate in any given game and there are only going to be 10-12 minutes available for the final guard spot. Those minutes should go to Reaves before they go to Bradley or Rondo.
So while we will likely see Reaves’ playing time decrease, the fact that he is playing well and is getting chances with the best lineup the Lakers have shows us that he is going to stay in the rotations amid the flurry of returns.