Austin Reaves recently sat down with Dan Patrick during the American Century Championship for an interview. He spoke about several things, including his reaction to LeBron James’ exit and what comes next for the Lakers.
When Dan Patrick dove into Reaves’ time with the Lakers, he asked him about the moment Reaves knew he had basketball talent and what stereotypes he had faced over the years.
“I’ve always had a delusional confidence in myself. It goes back to high school and you know, just believing in what I can do on a basketball court,” Reaves said.
In hindsight, everyone now claims that they knew Austin Reaves could play. They claim that he deserves the four-year, $185 million contract he agreed on with the Lakers.
But initially, as an undrafted player, he faced a lot of criticism and stereotypes in scout assessments and media perceptions of his games. Dan Patrick asked him about the stereotypes he faced throughout his career.
“[That] I’m white, [so] I’m unathletic. I could walk down the street, and nobody’s going to be, I mean, I’ve had people ask me if I played tennis or baseball before basketball. So, it’s just, you know, things like that.”
“But I never felt like I was going to get the opportunity to play in the NBA. I always felt like I was capable of it, but I didn’t know if the opportunity would present itself. Once it did, you know, I kind of got my foot in the door and then, you know, took advantage of it,” said Reaves confidently.
Ever since the Lakers traded for Walker Kessler, they have faced a lot of backlash from the fans and the media over having a core of only White players. So Reaves will now become a catalyst in the Lakers’ attempt to prove those critics wrong.
Additionally, Reaves also recounted two separate incidents where he felt overwhelmed and, in a way, intimidated by the stars who have been on the Lakers’ roster over the years.
Dan Patrick had asked him how he got LeBron James’ number for the first time when he recalled being on a group chat with six future Hall of Famers.
“I’m pretty sure I got it pretty quickly. Yeah, I think so. He has a mini camp every year before our training camp, and when we were down there, I think there was a group message sent out, and everybody was sending their names in it, and I saw his name.”
“Well, and the thing is, I was on a, you know, that my rookie year, I was on a team of six Hall of Famers. It was like I would see a message, it’d be like Russell Westbrook, Melo, Dwight Howard, like it was just name after name after name. I’m like, ‘Holy s—, why am I here?'”
Subsequently, Patrick also asked Reaves about his ‘Welcome To The NBA’ moment when he recalled LeBron James trash-talking to him even before his first NBA game.
“I think it was in practice, Bron, for some reason I got matched up on him three straight possessions, and I played probably the best defense of my life, and he scored every possession. And he was talking s—, so uh I couldn’t say anything, but that was kind of my ‘oh wow like do I really belong here?’ moment,” Reaves recalled.
Austin Reaves played 51 games in the 2025-26 regular season, where he averaged 23.3 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.7 rebounds while shooting 49.0% from the field and 36.0% from behind the three-point line.
Now that LeBron James is no longer on the Lakers, he cements himself as the unquestionable second option on the scoring end. In my opinion, he needs to earn an All-Star selection to prove that he’s on the right track to lead the Lakers to a championship one day with Doncic.
Do you think Reaves will become the next big co-star on the Lakers next to Luka Doncic? Let us know what you think in the comments section.
