If you're in Los Angeles Lakers fan, then you love talking about [the success story that is](https://lakeshowlife.com/austin-reaves-rapidly-turning-into-something-lakers-badly-needed) Austin Reaves. As we continue to see how he fits alongside Luka Doncic in this new era of Lakers basketball, we can see that there's a real world where this team gets the most out of Reaves with him coming off the bench.
Now, make sure you hear me when I say this: I'm not saying Reaves isn't talented enough to be in the starting unit. Not by any stretch of the imagination. He has firmly established that he is a starting caliber player in this league, and he's putting up production that could [easily be considered All-Star leve](https://lakeshowlife.com/austin-reaves-has-quietly-become-lakers-most-important-player)l right now. The crux of this issue is concerning what role allows him to be the most successful.
Headed into the season, I would have said that Reaves and Luka Doncic were going to be more than fine operating alongside each other in the starting lineup. And while I think it's been far from a disaster for the Lakers, Reaves has shown that he's a high level enough creator off the bounce that having him on the floor at the same time as number 77 all the time isn't necessarily the best move.
Reaves has proven his worth this season
---------------------------------------
We have already seen JJ Redick stagger these two a bit when it comes to his lineup choices. This has been a wise decision, but I think the idea can be implemented even more heavily than it currently is. What you have right now is Austin being one of the first players to sub out of the game, and spending a good bit of time with the second unit while Luka runs things with the starters.
This works up until the point that these two end up inevitably sharing the floor together once again. What we have seen this season is Reaves prove that he's more than capable of leading the offense and getting his teammates to perform at a high level alongside him as the main ball handler.
When Doncic is on the floor next to him, Austin becomes a bit more of a catch and shoot type of guy. It's not that he still can't be effective in that role, but he's just shown us that he can do so much more than that.
Ultimately, this is a good problem for the Lakers to have. In LeBron's absence, Reaves has stepped up massively and put up some truly incredible scoring performances. In order for him to maximize his impact on this group, bringing him off the bench and having him dominate against opposing reserves may be the best option.