Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs are in the Western Conference Finals despite boasting one of the youngest rosters in the NBA. With Wembanyama already finishing second in MVP voting at 22 years of age, a reign of terror feels inevitable. Thankfully, the Los Angeles Lakers have a chance to end it before it can truly begin if Luka Doncic continues his own brilliant career.
The deciding factor in the Lakers' attempts to prevent the Spurs' ascension, however, will be whether or not Austin Reaves can hold his own against Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper.
Though Wembanyama is the unrivaled superstar of the group as a 7'4" Goliath with a guard-like skill set, Castle and Harper are the ultimate X-Factors. Castle, 21, and Harper, 20, have already displayed star potential of their own, with flashes of brilliance on both ends of the floor.
Harper proved as much with 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists, and seven steals in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, while Castle won Rookie of the Year in 2024-25 and averaged 16.7 points and 7.4 assists while garnering All-Defense hype in 2025-26.
San Antonio is far from a three-player team, but the Lakers' desire to re-sign Reaves this summer seems to point to a belief that they can win by playing through two perimeter-oriented players. In 2025-26, Doncic and Reaves emerged as the team's top two options on offense and often traded isolation possessions.
As such, if the Lakers are going to have any chance of overcoming a Wembanyama-led team, they must first be able to trust Reaves to hold his own against one of Castle and Harper.
Can Austin Reaves hold his own against Stephon Castle, Dylan Harper?
It seems fairly silly to question if a 27-year-old veteran can hold his own against two up-and-comers who are 20 and 21 years of age. It's even more difficult to justify asking that question when one considers that Reaves averaged 23.3 points and 5.5 assists per game on .490/.360/.871 shooting in 2025-26.
The harsh reality of what the Lakers have in Reaves, however, is that his regular season heroics haven't exactly translated to a postseason setting.
Reaves boasts career postseason averages of 17.3 points and 4.5 assists on .444/.357/.881 shooting. Those are by no means bad numbers, but they're skewed in some part by how well he played when the Lakers reached the 2023 Western Conference Finals—three long years ago.
Between the 2024 and 2026 NBA Playoffs, Reaves averaged 17.8 points and 4.4 assists while shooting at a far less efficient clip of .427/.287/.870.
Austin Reaves has a questionable postseason history, defensive concerns
Beyond the numbers, Reaves simply hasn't lived up to the standard of a second or even third option in the playoffs. He makes smart basketball decisions, but doing so can inch closer to passive than wise when the Lakers need him to assert himself on offense.
Therein lies the primary reason the Lakers may need to think twice this summer: Reaves' offense can't be a question mark when his isolation defense is already an issue.
Reaves is better than advertised as an off-ball defender, showcasing the willingness and ability to chase opponents off of screens and crowd their space. Where he struggles, however, is in isolation. That poses quite a challenge considering Castle and Harper look like future stars on the offensive end of the floor, as well as on defense.
If Reaves can't at least match their output on the offensive end of the floor, then his defensive issues will be magnified and exposed.
The saving grace for the Lakers is that Doncic is a stellar postseason player, leading the Dallas Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals and 2022 Conference Finals. Even if he's otherworldly, however, Los Angeles will need Reaves to play like the star he's about to be paid to be.
The Lakers still have several drastic roster improvements to make, but even working under the optimistic belief that they'll build a contender, it's on Reaves to match Castle and Harper.
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