Austin Reaves comes from a basketball family, with his parents and older brother all playing the game till at least the college level. Both of Reaves’ parents played at Arkansas State, and a highlight reel of his father, Brian, recently went viral on social media. To say the son’s game is similar to his father’s might be an understatement.
Now we know where AR gets it from 🔥 pic.twitter.com/bmM85Iq1zm
— ²³𝙻𝚎𝙱𝚛𝚘𝚗𝚌𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚜🏀☄️🌎💞 (@BronGotGame) April 7, 2025
It’s incredible how similar they seem on some of those plays. You feel like you’re watching Austin Reaves at times.
As for Brian’s college career, he averaged 4.7 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 0.8 steals per game in his four seasons at Arkansas State. While Austin certainly learned a lot from him, it turns out he inherited his scoring talents from his mother, Nicole Wilkett.
Wilkett also played at Arkansas State, averaging 19.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in two seasons. She earned all-conference honors as a senior, when she averaged 21.3 points per game. Both his parents playing the game at a fairly high level certainly helped Reaves when he was growing up.
“It’s a blessing to have two parents that both played at a (NCAA) Division I team,” Reaves said in 2017. “That’s what our goal was. I never thought I would be where I am now.”
Well, if Reaves couldn’t believe that he made it to Wichita State in 2017, one can only imagine what was going through his head when he was informed that the Los Angeles Lakers wanted to sign him. The Lakers were the team he was rooting for growing up, and they signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2021.
Reaves showed some promise as a rookie, but no one could have imagined he would turn out to be this good someday. The 26-year-old is averaging 20.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game for the Lakers in 2024-25, and has become a key piece for them now.
The Lakers gave Reaves a four-year, $54 million extension in 2023, and that’s looking like a ridiculous bargain at this point. They’re going to have to give him a big extension soon enough, though, as he can hit free agency next year by opting out of his $14.9 million player option for 2026-27.
