Austin Reaves Sets The Record Straight On What It's Like To Be LeBron James' Teammate
Ahead of the Lakers' game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday, young guard Austin Reaves spoke to the media about his superstar teammate, LeBron James. In the quote, Reaves raves about James' qualities as a leader and goes on to clarify that there's nothing fake or phony about his selfless personality.
"I give him a hard time all the time but he's a great human. He treats everybody as a person. Someone of that stature, you hear it all the time of them not being a good person. But with him it's the exact opposite. He cares about you as a human, especially his hometown. Big shoutout to him for all that he does for this community and all the other communities as well."
It's been an up-and-down season for Austin Reaves, but LeBron has instilled him with the confidence to keep shooting even as he was moved to the bench. When it comes to James, he's really stepped up as a leader since coming to Los Angeles and Reaves is just the latest Laker to rave about his impact both on and off the basketball court.
An Impeccable Track Record
For most NBA stars of the highest caliber, they can often be hard to work with for a variety of reasons. In Brooklyn, we saw Kyrie Irving make things difficult during the 2020 pandemic season. In 2022, we saw Russell Westbrook become the villain in Los Angeles for sabotaging the team from the inside out. So far, James hasn't done any of these things. In fact, over his 20+ year career, his teammates have had nothing but nice things to say about him as a leader and voice in the locker room.
As one of the few NBA stars to have a clean record, lacking any sort of major family controversy, it's impressive that James has maintained his pristine reputation after so many years. But his commitment to the game, consistency of excellence, and show of discipline on and off the floor is proof enough that he's different from your average NBA superstar. For Reaves, who feels the impact of LeBron first-hand, he knows more than anyone how valuable he is to the Lakers and their locker room culture.
LeBron Is On A Historic Run
At 9-7 on the season, the Lakers are on track to compete for a top-six seed in the West but it remains to be seen if they can stay healthy enough to maintain this level of play. But, for now, LeBron James is leading an inspiring run. Currently, in year 21, he's averaging 25.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, and 6.7 assists per game on 57.8% shooting.
Of course, he's also been a valuable leader for the team, holding himself accountable for mistakes and supporting his teammates every step of the way. For role-players like Austin Reaves and D'Angelo Russell, this leadership has made all the difference in the early part of this season and his example has rubbed off on the others in the best way possible.
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