Ranking Lakers’ Austin Reaves and the NBA’s best undrafted players

2. Austin Reaves, Los Angeles Lakers

Call us crazy. There are going to be plenty of non-Lakers fans that would call us crazy for ranking Austin Reaves as the second-best undrafted player in the league. But at the end of the day, this guy has it and is on his way to being a very productive player in the NBA.

Darvin Ham finally leaned into Reaves having a bigger role on the team and he has done nothing but excel since getting a larger chance. Reaves is now doing it on a bigger stage in the NBA Playoffs, showcasing that his ceiling is much higher than anyone could have expected.

The former Oklahoma Sooner absolutely took over his first playoff game and looked fearless out there. Nobody on this list (outside of no. 1 when he is right) can do what Reaves did on the offensive end in crunch time as he did against Memphis.

In his last 20 games of the regular season, Reaves averaged 18.1 points, 5.6 assists and 3.2 rebounds per game. He shot 56.5% from the field, 42.6% from three and 85.3% from the free-throw line. And he did all this while playing serviceable defense on the other end.

Let’s not forget he is doing this on a team where he is the third option at the absolute best. Reaves is legitimately special and while this ranking might seem high to some right now, those who have watched him play know that he is the real deal.