When Austin Reaves went undrafted in 2021, not many would have predicted that he’d become a key piece for the Los Angeles Lakers in less than two years. Reaves has worked hard at his craft and has even become somewhat of a household name now.
He recently sat down for an interview with Shams Charania, where he was asked about whether he had to do any rookie duties in his first training camp, and Reaves spoke about running errands for former teammate Russell Westbrook.
“I got a call from a number I didn’t have and I was on the phone with my mom,” Reaves said. “So I didn’t think anything about it and just kept talking to my mom and then I got a text and it was like, ‘Yo this is RW, call me when you get a chance.’ I’m sitting there for a second, I’m like RW? And I was like oh Russ. So I was like Mom I gotta go. Picked up the phone, called him and he was like, ‘Hey, I need you to go to CBS, get me some body wash, shampoo.’ All that little stuff. I heard Bron (LeBron James) in the background and Bron was like, ‘Why don’t you just text him?’ He was like, ‘I gotta see if he can remember stuff.’ I was like oh s*** let me go write it down on my notes so I don’t really forget anything, so that was really the first thing.”
A fun, animated story of when Lakers guard Austin Reaves ran good-natured rookie errands for teammate Russell Westbrook in 2021 training camp: pic.twitter.com/CvB4zLGqQK
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 14, 2023
Reaves went on to call it one of the best weekends of his life. He would make such a good impression on the Lakers very early on, that instead of giving him a two-way deal, the Lakers signed him to a standard NBA contract before the season started. His teammates didn’t burden him with too many duties when he was a rookie, with LeBron James just once asking him to buy an Xbox controller.
Reaves showed flashes of what he was capable of as a rookie and has taken a big step forward this season. Since the All-Star break, he has averaged 17.6 PPG, 3.1 APG, and 5.5 APG in 23 games. He has done so while shooting an impressive 57.8% from the field and he’ll be hoping to get off to a hot start when he plays his first playoff game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.
Austin Reaves Wants To Be A Laker For Life
Reaves grew up a Lakers fan and is living the dream at the moment. He is going to be a free agent in the summer, though, and there is a real possibility that he could leave after just two seasons. For his part, Reaves wants to remain with the Lakers for his whole career, but that doesn’t mean he is going to give them a major discount.
He had stated earlier that anyone who says they don’t play for the money is lying and Charania reported that if Reaves gets a deal in the $60-70 million range, then the Lakers would struggle to match it. The fans certainly would be outraged if the organization fails to retain him, and it is a situation worth monitoring in the offseason.
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