Austin Reaves has been an integral part of the Lakers this season. Even as the Lakers kept winning, he was missed during his brief absence over the last week as he rested a sore calf.
However, Thursday was not a glowing example of his value to the purple and gold.
In his return to the court after missing two games, Reaves was objectively bad. He finished 2-13 from the field, 1-7 from the 3-point line and did not register an assist. In 32 minutes, he was a -7, the second-worst plus-minus on the team.
“It was a pretty miserable performance on my part, but happy to get a win,” Reaves said. “I just wanted to get back out there and hoop and tonight I didn’t even really hoop. I was just out there.”
Hey, he got in some great cardio at least!
In some ways, by being so bad, Reaves made it an easy decision to go to Gabe Vincent in the fourth quarter and he hit some enormous shots as part of the Lakers comeback. So, he did indirectly contribute, one could say.
He did hit a big shot in overtime. After the game, head coach JJ Redick noted that Reaves came in for Vincent to give the latter a quick breather. During that span, Reaves knocked down a corner 3-pointer off a pass from Jaxson Hayes that kept momentum in the Lakers’ favor.
“I’ve seen [Hayes] make that pass a couple of times,” Reaves said. “I really thought he was about to just get off that left foot and get on the rim cause obviously we’ve all seen that. I don’t know if I’d have passed it to me in that situation with the game I was having. So I appreciate you, Jaxson.”
The good news is that the Lakers won the game despite Reaves’ best efforts. Hopefully, he shook off all the rust, got his cardio in and is ready to actually contribute because the Lakers will likely need him against the Celtics on Saturday.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at@JacobRude or on Bluesky at@jacobrude.bsky.social.