The Los Angeles Lakers have been a completely different team ever since settling on the starting lineup featuring D’Angelo Russell, Austin Reaves and Rui Hachimura around LeBron James and Anthony Davis. But that lineup has forced a bit of a role change for Reaves, especially defensively.
Reaves has taken on the task of defending the opposing team’s best guard, which sees him having to chase around the likes of Stephen Curry, De’Aaron Fox and Damian Lillard, amongst others. But despite the increased defensive responsibility, Reaves is also one of the team’s best creators on offense.
It is a lot to put on Reaves and a workload that can wear down many. As such, Reaves is making sure he is doing everything he can off the court to keep his body feeling good and fighting off fatigue, via Spectrum SportsNet:
“Just do the necessary things in my off time to take care of my body. Get a lot of sleep, drink a lot of water. But that’s what I want to do, I want to be in those positions to make plays offensively and defensively as well.”
The Lakers will need Reaves to be at his best if they plan on making any kind of postseason run. They ask a lot of him, but they feel he is capable of handling everything they put on his plate. And so far, the results have been positive.
The Lakers are in the midst of their best stretch of the season and overall Reaves is happy with the way the team is playing:
“Yeah, for sure. The only thing we can do is control what we can control. The rest of the league will shake out how it shakes out, but for us, our main goal is to go into every game and win. Like you said, we’ve done that recently at a high level, 5-1 on this road trip is a really good road trip. Obviously we wish we won all of them, but that’s not what it was and I’m happy with where we’re at playing.”
Every member of the Lakers must embrace and thrive in their role and Reaves is doing everything the coaching staff asks of him. Even though he is usually at a speed disadvantage he gives 100% every night. Things have finally begun to click for the Lakers and now everyone is focused on keeping this positive momentum going for the rest of the year.
Lakers’ Austin Reaves set to release AR1 ’17 Rings’ in collaboration with KICKS CREW
Austin Reaves’ focus is squarely on finishing out this regular season right for the Lakers, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have other things going on as well.
Reaves is set to release the latest edition of his AR1 signature sneaker with Rigorer. This edition, known as ’17 Rings’ features a Lakers’ inspired purple and gold color scheme and will be released exclusively on KICKSCREW.com on April 6 for $110.
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