Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves had a busy summer playing for Team USA during the FIBA World Cup. The work did not result in a championship for the United States, but Reaves was an integral part of a quality team representing the country. Now, he returns to the Lakers for training camp.
Head coach Darvin Ham now has the task of using training camp to figure out how the Lakers will look when the 2023-24 season begins later this month. But because of the workload that Reaves had during the offseason, he has held the third-year guard out of things to attempt to ease him back into basketball.
Ham explained his mindset surrounding Reaves during the early part of training camp and how he plans to use him as the season nears.
“You have to be careful,” Ham said. “We’ll get on the same page, Rob, myself, Roger, Ed and our performance team. We’ll come up with a good plan. He participated in a good part of practice but obviously there are things we have to be careful with.”
Reaves also spoke about his workload, whether or not he has any lingering fatigue from the World Cup and how he feels about the team he sees on the floor while he generally sits on the sidelines.
“I did a little bit at the first practice,” Reaves said. “I did all the stations and stuff and played for probably 7-8 minutes or so but that was really it. I took the last couple weeks not off but I had a good time just relaxing a little bit. I’m ready to get back to work now, but there’s some stuff we have to build up to. We’ll build up to that, whatever they decide to do playing wise during the preseason is what I’ll do.
“I don’t know, any time I’m in the gym I want to play, so I’m just sitting over there trying my best to stay the course.”
While observing though, Reaves has gotten a chance to see just how good this Lakers team can be.
“I see a lot of talent on the floor as I’ve talked about the last couple weeks. We’ve got everything we need to be good, we just have to buy into the game plans, the coach and just build that chemistry as a team. We have the talent to do whatever we need to do. A lot of talent, a lot of skill and a lot of good basketball.”
Reaves and Ham will obviously do what is best for the long-term health of both him and the team. If that means he doesn’t participate in much of training camp and ramps up during the preseason, then that’s what it will mean.
The Lakers are going to be smart, as their goal is to field the most competitive team possible in April, May and beyond, not October.
Austin Reaves could play more point guard
Ham and Reaves, in the meantime, have also had conversations about the role that Reaves will play on the 2023-24 Lakers. And that could see him spending time at a new position.
“Yeah, I feel really comfortable. Point guard is basically the position I’ve played my whole life until some of college and then obviously the last couple years. But I feel like that’s something that kind of never leaves you. Me and Darv have had conversations about that as well. Just having a little more opportunity to initiate, start, and it doesn’t necessarily mean make a play every possession, but get us into what we need to get in to and just kind of play that role.”
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