The most important move the Los Angeles Lakers made this offseason was retaining guard Austin Reaves on a new four-year contract. Reaves exploded late in the season to become one of the team’s most reliable players and someone head coach Darvin Ham trusted immensely.
In addition to being rewarded with a new contract, Reaves was also selected to be part of Team USA for the FIBA World Cup this summer, which will give him another opportunity to show he’s among the best players in the world. And Ham doesn’t believe he will be done there.
Ham made an appearance on the #thisleague UNCUT podcast with Marc Stein and Chris Haynes and expressed his full belief that Reaves will be an All-Star in the NBA sooner than later:
“I’m putting it on record right now, Austin Reaves will be an All-Star at some point soon. I think what you saw with him being invited to be a part of the World Cup team is the first step in that direction. Everything you saw him do last year, the kid is a flat-out competitor, one of the greatest human beings you could ever be around. Always fun, keeps things simple, but yet works at his craft, is fearless in the biggest moments, and my plan is to continue to feature him. He’s our starting 2-guard and I think there’s a lot more levels he’s going to get to before it’s all said and done. He’ll be an All-Star and a world champion, with me in the room with him.”
It is always inspiring for a player to hear his coach have the level of praise and belief in him that Ham has for Reaves. It will undoubtedly motivate the Lakers guard to continue to work hard and improve even more this offseason, not that he wasn’t already putting in plenty of work.
Making the All-Star team, especially in a guard-heavy Western Conference, will not be easy for Reaves, but he will surely get a boost from the fan voting thanks to the strong Lakers base. He finished in the top-10 in fan votes last year and that was before he took his game to another level down the stretch and into the postseason.
If he is able to start next season the way he ended last year, Reaves could make Ham’s prediction come true sooner than anyone anticipates.
Steve Kerr praises Lakers’ Austin Reaves ahead of 2023 FIBA World Cup
The head coach of the FIBA World Cup team Reaves will be part of is Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who got an up close view of what Reaves is capable of in the playoffs last season. In fact, Kerr would even joke that Reaves was an easy choice after the Lakers guard’s performance against his Warriors.
Kerr would continue to praise Reaves, noting his versatility on both ends of the floor while calling him a player who impacts winning at a high level.
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