With JJ Redick officially becoming the next head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, the franchise now shifts its focus to the NBA Draft and free agency. The roster needs to be improved to ascend to championship contention, but Austin Reaves looks to be off the table unless a superstar suddenly becomes available.
At his introductory press conference on Monday, Redick brought up Reaves and it is expected that he wants to find ways to continue his development alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis. Notably, Redick wants two-way players and could look to tap into Reaves becoming an energetic defender, taking charges and diving for loose balls, things he did during his rookie season.
There is a lot of pressure on Redick to become a long-term fit for the Lakers and connect with players despite having zero head coaching experience. Nonetheless, Redick expressed his excitement to coach Reaves this upcoming season:
“Oh, he’s excellent and I cannot wait to coach Austin. And one of the reasons I can’t wait to coach him is because of his competitive spirit. He has a real mental toughness and competitive approach every single night.”
In fact, Redick loves Reaves so much that The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported on the Pat McAfee Show that the guard isn’t going to be traded:
“I don’t see any scenario where they’re moving Austin Reaves this offseason. If anyone has seen the way JJ Redick has been glowing about Austin Reaves, JJ Redick wants Austin Reaves to really fulfill his potential, whether that’s being an All-Star caliber player, whatever that is. He has high hopes for Austin Reaves.”
An area worth monitoring is what kind of philosophies Redick will incorporate and early indications are that he and Reaves could form a beneficial relationship. With 15 years of NBA experience and similar tendencies as players, it makes sense for Redick to connect with Reaves shortly after becoming L.A.’s next head coach.
All in all, the Arkansas native is seen as a part of the Lakers’ future and has shown progress in a short three years with the team. But an interesting wrinkle to this is if Redick will be able to get more out of Reaves than former head coach Darvin Ham, and it seems the two are at the very least on the same page.
Austin Reaves believes JJ Redick is a ‘basketball genius’
In the short time since being officially announced as a head coach, JJ Redick has not wasted time reaching out to his players and connecting with them. He notably reached out to Anthony Davis to talk about his vision of getting more production out of his star.
Before this video after his press conference, Redick called Reaves to continue to grow their relationship as they had an episode together on The Old Man and the Three podcast last. So Reaves got a sense of how Redick views the game, going as far as calling him a ‘basketball genius.’
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