Austin Reaves and the Los Angeles Lakers are set to face Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the defending champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder, in the Western semifinals of the 2026 NBA playoffs.
Ahead of Game 1, the Lakers’ guard spoke to the media at the post-practice media scrum and addressed his and the team’s outlook going into this second-round series. Reaves was asked about going up directly against the reigning Finals MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and his views on the Thunder star’s ability to draw fouls and go to the free-throw line.
“I know that’s a tough topic to talk about because everybody blows it out of proportion. He wants to win and is gonna do whatever it takes to win. If it’s shoot 20 free throws, so be it.”
“If I shoot 20 free throws, I’d be happy. I don’t think there are any bad intentions in trying to get to the line. I think it’s somewhat of a, what people call art, but considering how many possessions he has the ball in his hands, and how much he does attack, they’re not going to score zero free throws,” Reaves concluded.
In the playoffs so far, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has 33.8 points, 8.0 assists, and 3.8 rebounds while shooting 55.1% from the field and 31.3% from beyond the three-point line.
Averaging 12.3 free throws attempted per game in the postseason, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander leads the NBA in free-throw attempts this postseason. Even during the regular season, he averaged the third-most attempts from the line (9.0) behind Deni Avdija (9.2) and Luka Doncic (10.1).
But Austin Reaves, as well, is not that far behind in terms of having the skill of drawing fouls. During the regular season, Reaves averaged 23.3 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.7 rebounds while shooting 49.0% from the field and 36.0% from beyond the arc.
While he was injured for a significant portion of the regular season, he still averaged 7.3 attempts from the free-throw line per game, which is among the Top 10 in the league. The Thunder’s head coach, Mark Daigneault, acknowledged that stopping Reaves from going to the free-throw line will be a key part of their game plan.
“They’re adding an extremely high usage player that’s great at drawing fouls, really savvy shooter at all three levels. He’s just a very crafty, skilled player and someone that they can play through. Somebody that they can give the ball to and can generate offense for them.”
“Any time any team adds a player like that, it’s potent. He certainly changes the equation when he’s in there; his usage was through the roof last game. And when you have a player be that much of a central force in their offense like that, you have to take that into account,” said Daigneault during the Thunder’s post-practice media scrum.
Therefore, both teams have sharp knives when it comes to using foul-drawing as an offensive tool with their leading guards in the game. But hopefully that is not the type of offense that either of the teams relies on too much, as it does not necessarily result in the best basketball product for the fans.
Other Comments From Austin Reaves On The Thunder
While talking about the media narratives around the Lakers’ chances of winning while facing the defending champions, Reaves reminded the reporters that the media had underestimated them against the Rockets as well in the first round.
“You could say nobody thought we were going to get past Houston, but everybody in this building believed. It’s the same mindset going into this,” said Reaves on the Lakers’ underdog status in this series.
“We obviously know the team that we’re about to face and how good they are and the problems that they can create for 48 minutes. So, we’ll have to lock in every single day, film, whatever it could be, to continue to get better and pay attention to all the little details as they do.”
Shortly before this media scrum, another clip of Austin Reaves went viral, where he described that the Lakers will need to battle going into the second round.
“To close it out the way we did is special. Next is OKC, gotta go in there and battle. We’ll be ready,” Reaves said.
The Lakers are now set for Game 1 of their series in Oklahoma on Tuesday, May 5. It will be a nail-biting matchup on both ends of the floor. Will the Lakers be able to nullify the threat of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander going to the free-throw line? Or will we see the reigning MVP get his way? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
