Austin Reaves’ favorite player is someone the Lakers will regret not signing
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers have put an emphasis on bringing in young talent this offseason as last season was filled with old veterans who disappointed (and still have not signed with new teams).
One of the only young players on the roster last season was undrafted rookie Austin Reaves. While Reaves was not spectacular, he showed a lot of promise and was yet another example of the franchise’s great scouting department.
Reaves is now a fan favorite with the hope being that he can continue to improve as an NBA rotation player. The Lakers’ fan favorite has an interesting favorite player of his own as well. In an Instagram video with Nick Barrotta and Owyn, Reaves revealed that his favorite NBA player is Joe Ingles of all people.
"“I actually really like Joe Ingles, which is a random one. I think he just plays the game the right way.”"
Don’t worry, Lakers fans, Reaves did say that his favorite player of all time is Kobe Bryant, Ingles is simply his favorite active player.
The Los Angeles Lakers should have signed Austin Reaves’ favorite player, Joe Ingles.
The Lakers had a chance to sign Joe Ingles this offseason but he ultimately signed with the Milwaukee Bucks. Milwaukee signed Ingles with the Taxpayer MLE, which is the same contract that the Lakers gave to Lonnie Walker IV.
Granted, there is a chance that Rob Pelinka did pursue Ingles and he simply wanted to play for the Bucks but sunny Los Angeles is hard to turn down for the same amount of money. Based on the other moves the Lakers made, Ingles likely was not on the team’s radar.
There is some risk in Ingles as he tore his ACL last season and could miss some time next season as a result. With how disappointing the veteran players were last season, the Lakers did have cause for concern.
That being said, Walker is not a great fit as he does not do the things the Lakers need him to do alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. He is young so there is potential, but the team isn’t going to maximize that potential in just one season.
The ceiling is higher with Ingles and quite frankly, the floor is not that much lower than Walker. Plus, it would have allowed Reaves to play with his favorite active player, which would have been a cool story to monitor throughout the season.