In most NBA player-ranking discussions, Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves lands somewhere in the mid-30s in today's league. ESPN ranked Reaves the 37th-best player in the Association; FanSided ranked him a smidgen higher at No. 36.
Reaves' rise from undrafted player to max player is the stuff of Hollywood, and he's still only 28 years old. There's still a possibility that Reaves takes another leap, which would vault him into the top-25 realm of the player rankings.
Could Reaves enter that territory as early as ... this season? It is possible. He'd have to do these three things to get there. Let's dive in.
3 things Austin Reaves must do this year to be given top-25 player status
1. Play at least 65 games
Yeah, this one's a bit boring, but it's also essential. Injuries limited Reaves to 51 games last season. He's fallen short of the 65-game threshold in three of his five NBA seasons so far in his career, though he did impressively play all 82 games in 2023-24.
Besides the fact that Reaves can't make his first All-Star squad without playing 65 games, there's also the sense that you simply can't call him one of the best 25 guys in the league until he proves he's a bit more durable. To be in that category, you need to be someone who's relied upon to produce All-Star numbers year in and year out. You can't do that if you're not healthy most of the time.
2. Improve as a defender
We're at the point where Reaves' skill set as an offensive player is appreciated. He's well-known enough in the NBA that people understand how good his handle is, how creative he is as a playmaker, and how lethal he is as a scorer when you don't give him superstar attention defensively (and sometimes, even when you do).
The one thing that Reaves' detractors can still point to is that he's not a good defender. And while the Lakers have added some defensive wings to their depth chart this year who should help Reaves, he still isn't absolved of the duty of getting stronger on that end of the floor.
Reaves doesn't need to become a lockdown on-ball defender or anything, but he needs to keep improving his positional awareness and defensive posture (stay low!) so that he's not as easy a target for the opposition.
Look, Reaves has improved as a defender through the years, and he's not a complete liability on that end. But if he can rise to the level of a neutral or even savvy defender, it'll be tough to keep him out of the top-25 with the kind of offensive impact he brings to the table.
3. Sustain or increase his scoring while diminishing turnovers
Reaves averaged 23.3 points, 5.5 assists, and 3.0 turnovers per game last season. If he can creep towards the 25-ppg figure, sustain his assist output, and keep his turnovers below three per game, he'll have the kind of All-Star-looking numbers that top-25 guards normally have.
Reaves plays aggressively, so turnovers are bound to happen, and that's okay. What he can work to limit are the silly ones, while slightly improving his efficiency overall.
We've seen Reaves explode for huge scoring performances. With LeBron James no longer in the picture in LA, Reaves will have the opportunity virtually every night to spread his wings offensively. If he can raise the floor of his off-nights (he shouldn't ever score less than 15 points!) and remain someone who's a threat to go nuclear at any moment, he'll naturally look and feel like a top-25 player in the league.
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