Austin Reaves was ranked No. 66 on the ESPN 100, an annual preseason ranking of the 100 best players in the NBA by the publication. While Reaves hasn’t commented on his ranking publicly, his elder brother has revealed that the Lakers guard is probably upset about his placement but won’t say anything about it publicly, as told to The Ringer.
“I can say this confidently, [Austin] would never come out and say this, but he would look at the list and be like, ‘I’m actually higher than 66.’”
Austine’s elder brother, Spencer Reaves, is one of his closest confidants and could speak to how his brother feels very well. Ultimately, I don’t think most players care about this ranking enough to let it affect their play.
Reaves will come out next season with the hunger to become a better player, not because ESPN had him outside the top 50, but because advancing like that means he’ll be helping the Lakers contend for a championship.
Multiple NBA Players Have Attacked ESPN For The Rankings
NBA players are some of the most competitive people on the planet, but it seems sometimes competition can unite them. It seems any player who talks publicly about this list has something bad to say about it, as evidenced by Kyrie Irving, who was not happy that he was ranked at No. 34.
“Who. TF. cares. I Never will. Rankings don’t mean a damn thing in the league, especially not from ESPN or any of these other media platforms. The majority of the analysts are not credible sources in my eyes and I don’t respect them or their opinions.”
Kyle Kuzma took shots at them on social media, while fans were stunned to see Ja Morant be put at No. 35 this year. Kenyon Martin Jr. may not have been in the running to be on the list, but he felt disrespected by how Russell Westbrook was ranked.
“Show me f*cking 93 other people better than Russell Westbrook in the NBA. You have two people on the list ahead of him that ain’t played one f*cking NBA minute… Wemby and Scoot. They got Russ 94th dog. Are you sh*tting me? Let’s stop this f*cking madness man. Get the f*ck out of here man!”
All these players can go through the ebbs and flows of how the media reacts to a player and what they achieve on the court. The players’ goal will always be to compete for wins and improve their skill set, which is the only thing that can impact the game.
Austin Reaves Ready To Prove His Doubters Wrong
Many think Reaves is reaching the point of being overrated after the undrafted player’s breakout late last season. Given how his Team USA stint went, Reaves is coming into this season with a backpack of momentum and a mountain of haters. The Lakers star is ready to prove all of them wrong.
“That hunger is for sure still there. I think that underdog chip, for me, it’ll never go away, regardless of how high it goes. I genuinely believe that — there’s always people who doubt but — there’s a majority of people who still doubt what I’m doing. I think a lot of people think it’s maybe situations that occur and then go away.”
Reaves averaged 21.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 5.3 assists in the final series of the Lakers’ season against the Nuggets, with fans expecting similar production from him this season. If the Lakers want to be title contenders, it’s crucial Reaves continues his development and becomes a bonafide third option in LA.
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