Austin Reaves is somewhat of a household name now, but that wasn’t really the case a year or so ago. In fact, the Los Angeles Lakers star hilariously revealed on Run It Back, how a security guard at Barclays Center in Brooklyn didn’t recognize him.
“We were in Brooklyn, I don’t know if it was my rookie year or last year,” Reaves said. “I was injured at the time, so before the game, I was getting treatment. It went a little bit into the first quarter, maybe the second quarter.”
Reaves stated he jumped in the shower after that and then got dressed, presumably in street clothes. As he then tried to make his way to the Lakers bench, a security guard grabbed him.
“Right before I got to the bench, I was about to sit down, security, like, grabbed me,” Reaves stated. “And he was like, ‘Woah, what are you doing?’ First person I seen was [Anthony Davis], AD busts out laughing and was like, ‘Yo, he’s a player.’ I was like, ‘S***.’ So, I’ve gotten that a couple of times.”
Now, you can excuse security in Brooklyn not knowing who he is, but it turns out security in Los Angeles didn’t know who he was when he was a rookie.
“My rookie year, going into Staples, I was just trying to walk through to go down the ramp,” Reaves continued. “And they would stop me and be like, ‘What’s your credentials? Do you work for the team?'”
Safe to say, no one would be stopping Reaves, who is averaging 14.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.0 steals per game this season, nowadays at Crypto.com Arena. As for the incident in Brooklyn, it appears to have taken place last season.
The Lakers played the Nets on the road on January 30, 2023, when Reaves was out with a hamstring strain. He was a relative unknown at that point I suppose, unless you followed the Lakers. Reaves’ next trip to Barclays Center is on March 31, 2024, and I don’t expect security to give him any trouble then.
Austin Reaves Shared His Initial Reaction To Rumors Of Him Dating Taylor Swift
Getting stopped at times by security isn’t the only headache that Reaves has had to deal with. Earlier this year, rumors started to spread about him dating pop star Taylor Swift, and while they weren’t malicious, he had to answer questions about it for a while. In this episode, Reaves revealed his initial reaction to the rumors of him dating Swift.
“My first initial reaction was like, I was back home in Arkansas, I was playing cards with my friends,” Reaves said. “And one of my friends sent it to me and I was just like, ‘Are you serious?'”
There was no truth to the rumors as the two had never even met, but Reaves recognizes such things are inevitable when you play for the Lakers. He tries his best to stay out of the media circus but gets caught up in it anyway.
Austin Reaves On His Viral ‘I’m Him’ Moment
If you had to pinpoint the game that made Reaves this famous figure, it’d be Game 1 of the first-round playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies last season. He took over late in that contest with 14 points in the fourth quarter and announced his arrival on the big stage.
He was mic’d up as well and famously yelled, “I’m him” while dominating in that fourth quarter, en route to finishing the night with 23 points. Reaves reflected on that viral moment in the 2023 playoffs by calling it one of the best of his career.
The 25-year-old revealed all he was thinking about at the time was that LeBron James was giving him the ball and he didn’t want to mess up. Well, Reaves certainly did not and has now earned LeBron’s trust.
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