Austin Reaves pulled off arguably the best play of this 2025-26 season in the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 127-125 overtime win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. Reaves intentionally missed a free throw in the final seconds, grabbed his own rebound, and then hit a floater to send the contest to overtime. It was a miraculous play, but that was far from the only thing he did that night that impressed his head coach, JJ Redick.
Redick praised Reaves’ defense postgame, and those comments came to the attention of his agent, AMR Agency’s Aaron Reilly. As any good agent would, Reilly took the opportunity to slam the narrative that his client is a liability on defense on X.
“Wait a minute – Austin actually…. defends?! Enough of the bulls*** cone narrative. He’s been very good.”
Reaves has been viewed as a bad defender for his entire NBA career, and it was one of the reasons there was talk about him needing to be traded. The belief was that the Lakers could not win a title with a defensively suspect backcourt of him and Luka Doncic.
We saw the Minnesota Timberwolves target Doncic and Reaves on defense in the playoffs last season when they eliminated the Lakers in five games in the first round. It wasn’t the only reason they lost, but it was one of them.
Then, the Lakers’ struggles on the defensive end in the first half of the season gave more credence to the notion that Doncic needs a different backcourt partner. Sure, Reaves was having an outstanding season offensively, but even the likes of Rich Paul felt he should be traded for a defensive star like Jaren Jackson Jr.
Some of that talk has died down now, thanks to the Lakers improving defensively as a team. They have a 112.9 defensive rating post the All-Star break, which ranks 12th in the NBA. While Marcus Smart has been the standout, almost everyone on that team appears to be playing better defense now than at the start of the season.
Reaves’ 112.7 defensive rating currently ranks fourth on the Lakers among players who are averaging at least 10 minutes a game. He did very well against the Nuggets and deserved all the praise that came his way from Redick.
“We challenged Austin prior to the game,” Redick said, via Spectrum SportsNet. “Didn’t think he gave the requisite physicality when we lost there in Denver at times defensively. I thought down the stretch of regulation and in overtime, he was phenomenal defensively. And he got 50-50 balls, he got deflections, he got steals, made every catch tough on [Nikola] Jokic.”
It was quite impressive how the 6’5″ Reaves was making life difficult for the 6’11” Nikola Jokic. The 27-year-old tried to be physical and even ensured the Nuggets couldn’t get the ball to their Serbian superstar on a couple of occasions.
Reaves finished the night with 32 points (12-21 FG), seven rebounds, six assists, one steal, and one block as the Lakers improved to 42-25. It was his third 30-point game in a row, and he has well and truly broken out of his slump.
Reaves is now averaging 24.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game in 2025-26 while shooting 50.2% from the field and 38.0% from beyond the arc. He has taken the kind of leap that many doubted he could.
The timing is also great for Reaves and Reilly, as he looks set to become an unrestricted free agent in the summer. The guard has a $14.9 million player option for 2026-27, which he is unsurprisingly expected to opt out of.
A big payday is coming, but it appears Reilly won’t have to do much negotiating. It has been reported that the Lakers plan to offer Reaves a five-year, $240 million deal in the summer. That would be a huge financial commitment, but he might well be worth it.
For now, though, Reaves and the Lakers’ focus will be on their next game, as they take on the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center on Monday at 9:30 p.m. ET.
