By USNN World News Aggregator
For the third year in a row, Austin Reaves elevated his production and overall game for the Los Angeles Lakers this season. While his shooting efficiency was up and down throughout the season, he raised his scoring average from 15.9 points a game the previous year to 20.2 points a game, and he also posted 5.8 assists a game.
The Feb. 1 acquisition of Luka Doncic made life easier for Reaves, as it meant he didn’t have to work hard to create offense off the dribble as much. As a result, his shooting efficiency increased shortly after the trade, and he put up 24.9 points on 52.4% overall shooting and 42.4% from 3-point range in his last 17 regular-season games.
Reaves didn’t play well in the Lakers’ five-game loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the NBA playoffs. But he seems to have a positive outlook on how the season went.
Via Lakers Nation:
“I had a lot of fun,” Reaves said in his exit interview. “Forget the basketball, I enjoyed every single day going to work and being around these guys, the coaching staff, training staff, weight staff, everybody in the organization. From game one to game 82 and now, I just had a lot of fun. I always speak about how growing up playing with your best friends in high school, sometimes nothing will ever top that because you’ve been able to play high school basketball with guys you grew up with your whole life.
“But this is right up there with all of that. I really enjoyed it and like I said, I had fun regardless of statistics or anything. I enjoyed going to work every single day and putting in the work and going to battle with these guys.”
There is a growing feeling among some people that the Lakers may have to trade Reaves in order to become a true championship contender. But Jovan Buha of The Athletic said recently that the chances of him being traded this summer are low.
As long as he remains with the team, his ability to assume some of the ball-handling, facilitating and scoring duties should help it in its efforts to win an 18th NBA championship while also keeping LeBron James’ workload at a reasonable level.
This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Austin Reaves talks about his experience this season with Lakers
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