The Los Angeles Lakers’ guard, Austin Reaves’ brother, Spencer Reaves, 29, is making waves overseas. Averaging 19.4 points, including shooting at a 57.4% clip from three, Spencer helped Syntainics MBC reach their first German Cup in franchise history. After Reaves gave Luka Doncic a rave review, many wondered how he’d rate his brother, Spencer, at the NBA level.
After starting his professional playing career in the third Spanish league in 2018, Reaves stopped in second-tier leagues in Spain and Germany before reaching MBC in 2024.
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Three-point shooting is often much-needed leverage for players overseas attempting to walk onto an NBA roster. Reaves could be on a similar path as his brother, who went undrafted in the 2021 NBA Draft before agreeing to a two-way contract that eventually yielded a standard NBA deal with the Lakers. Austin is a legitimate option for the Lakers and one of the team’s best defensive weapons in the backcourt this season.
Luka Doncic draws ‘killer’ admission from Austin Reaves
Lakers guard Luka Doncic (77) and Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15) react after a basket against the Utah Jazz at Crypto.com Arena
Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images
Before Luka Doncic dropped 45 points against the Bucks, Lakers guard Austin Reaves sang his praises as his newfound teammate had already made quite the impression in the backcourt. Pegged as the third option to Lakers All-Star LeBron James and Doncic, Reaves is well aware of the kind of explosive Doncic can be for Los Angeles.
Reaves spoke on Doncic’s impact after the Lakers’ 113-109 win against the Knicks.
“The one thing that I think everybody knows about Luka is he’s a killer. At the end of the day, he wants to go win. I’ve been able to watch him for a long time in this league. That was one thing that I was really excited about was teaming up with him,” Reaves said.
Doncic finished with 32 points, 12 assists, and seven rebounds against the Knicks. LeBron James added 31 points, 12 rebounds, and eight assists, and Reaves added eight and six rebounds.
“When you put a guy like that on your team, obviously everybody knows how skilled he is and the way he makes the game easy for everybody else, it’s very good to have on your team,” Reaves continued. “I feel like he’s fit in perfectly fine. Very happy to have him and can’t wait to continue to grow.”
Despite Doncic’s 45 points, the Lakers lost to the Bucks 126-106 on Thursday night. Amid a three-game skid and missing James and Doncic, the Lakers will look to bounce back against the Nuggets on Friday.