The Los Angeles Lakers have picked up nine straight wins to improve their March record to 11-1, looking to solidify a Playoff spot as the No. 3 seed after battling to just remain in the top-six all season. Austin Reaves, Luka Doncic, and LeBron James have left it all on the line to make sure the team succeeds. Others are chipping in too, as their ninth straight win came courtesy of a Luke Kennard game-winning three to clinch a 105-104 game against the Orlando Magic.
Reaves has openly been given the responsibility of being the team’s second option behind Doncic but ahead of LeBron, which is a huge ask. Reaves put up 26 points, seven rebounds, and five assists against the Magic, averaging 23.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 5.9 assists over these last nine wins.
He spoke to the media after the game and shared a personal story about how much winning means to him and how his elder brother made him grow a hatred of losing.
“I mean, there’s nothing like winning. Obviously, losing sucks. It’s why you play the game. At a young age, I never won anything… With my brother being two years older than me, I never really won anything. He beat the crap out of me in everything, basketball, baseball, tennis, and ping-pong; he never let me win anything. So I grew a hatred to losing. That feeling of winning, the first time I beat him in basketball, was probably the best feeling of my life. Winning is — it fixes everything.”
This is the longest win streak Reaves has enjoyed in his career, as the last time the Lakers won nine games straight was in their championship-winning 2019-20 season. Reaves would join the team two seasons after that and sit through some rough seasons, with his most successful season being a trip to the 2023 Western Conference Finals, which ended in a 4-0 sweep loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Austin Reaves is likely in the final year of his contract, holding a $14.9 million player option for next season, which he is widely expected to decline in favor of a more lucrative new contract extension with the Lakers. He’s averaging 23.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 5.5 assists this season, so he’s more than earned every cent of a deal that likely could fetch him $240 million. Unfortunately, Reaves has missed too many games this season to be eligible for an All-NBA selection.
The Lakers have some big challenges ahead of them, where they’ll hope they can continue building on this win streak. They go on the road to face the East’s No. 1 seed, the Detroit Pistons, on Monday evening, although the Pistons will be weakened with the absence of MVP candidate Cade Cunningham. If the Lakers continue enjoying the good health they’ve had over March, the Pistons shouldn’t be a huge challenge for them to overcome.
Austin Reaves had once revealed that he intentionally told teams like the Pistons not to draft him so that he could wind up as an undrafted free agent on the Lakers. That was a good move for someone who hates losing, as Reaves wasn’t on the roster for their NBA-worst 28-game losing streak during the 2023-24 season. However, the Pistons have won more than the Lakers this season, so Reaves will be motivated to pick up another strong win to extend their win streak to double-digits.
