The Underrated improvement Lakers fans hope Austin Reaves will make in 2025

The Los Angeles Lakers have positioned shooting guard Austin Reaves to have the best season of his NBA career thus far. It's a development that's worth believing in, as Reaves has improved his quality of play across each of his three years with the Lakers.

If Reaves is going to become the player that can help the Lakers navigate the road to contending, however, there's an underrated area in which he must improve: On-ball defense.

Reaves has become one of the most dynamic offensive players on the Lakers, as well as one of the more well-rounded shot-creators and playmakers in the NBA. He's a skilled isolation player who can take opponents off the bounce as he either makes his way to the rim or creates space for jump shots.

Reaves is also effective in an off-ball capacity and more than willing to create for others, thus making him an ideal fit alongisde Anthony Davis and LeBron James.

In 2023-24, that materialized in the form of Reaves averaging 15.9 points, 5.5 assists, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.9 three-point field goals made per game. He shot 36.7 percent on catch-and-shoot threes, 37.3 percent on pull-ups from beyond the arc, and 55.5 percent on drives.

Entering 2024-25, however, the jury is still out on whether Reaves can become the type of two-way player who can push the Lakers over the edge and into the realm of the true contenders.

Lakers' defensive breakdown reveals glaring flaw

There have been times at which Reaves looks the part of a high-level defender. He's matched up against point guards and shooting guards alike, producing intriguing results when he's locked in and committed to that area of the game.

Inconsistency has been the theme for Reaves on defense, however, with an estimated defensive plus-minus of negative-1.8 shining a light on the issue.

Statistics only go so far as to measure a perimeter player's defensive impact, but it's in line with what Lakers fans have become accustomed to seeing. Reaves has struggled to produce a consistently positive result on defense, perhaps in favor of the offensive workload he carries in isolation-based sets.

As first-year head coach JJ Redick installs a system that emphasizes ball and player movement, however, there are no more excuses for lackluster results in a crucial area of the game.

Take these numbers with a grain of salt, but opponents shot 2.6 percent better when Reaves was the primary defender than when he wasn't in 2023-24. He did a decent job of contesting three-point shots, as evidenced by the opposition converting at a 0.3 percent lower clip with Reaves on them.

Dribble penetration and pick-and-roll attempts have left him out of position, however, thus requiring Anthony Davis to overadjust.

The promising sign is that Reaves began to turn things around, with that figure dropping to a plus-0.2 after February. In a limited five-game sample size, the Denver Nuggets also shot a stunning 13.1 percent worse when Reaves was the primary defender during the 2024 NBA playoffs.

If the Lakers are going to compete and contend in 2024-25, then Reaves will need to figure out how to sustain a high level of play on defense across the regular season and become the two-way wing the team needs him to be.