Austin Reaves has a golf-themed YouTube channel and sneaker named for his lifelong fandom of Kobe Bryant. Since joining the Los Angeles Lakers, he's developed a close connection to LeBron James.
So, one might be surprised to learn who earns the title of Reaves' personal sports GOAT … unless you understand his golf obsession.
“I would fancy to see Jordan win again, maybe,” LPGA legend Annika Sorenstam said in a joint media session alongside Reaves ahead of the American Century Championship, when asked for an Open Championship prediction.
“He's probably my favorite athlete of all time, by the way,” Reaves interjected.
Spieth has been Reaves' guy for a while. Two years ago, when I was covering the Lakers, he told me as much in the Crypto.com Arena hallway. In May, when I spoke to the Lakers wing, I was surprised to learn he hadn't yet teed it up with his golf hero.
“If that opportunity ever presented itself, I would love to do that,” he said.
Reaves said his “100 percent addiction” to golf formulated in high school, which coincided with Spieth's prime. Spieth — who, at 33, is struggling to remain a top-50 player on the PGA Tour — won three majors from 2015-17, often highlighted by electric displays of creativity around the greens. (Michelin-star chef and pro golfer Soo Kyo-Ahn shared similar sentiments about Spieth.)
Spieth hasn't won on the PGA Tour since 2022. The Open begins July 18 at Royal Troon.
“When he was really on his tear is when I started to actually really play golf and enjoy it,” Reaves explained. “He was winning everything. That's how I grew to like his game. His driving accuracy lately has been a lot better than it ever was, but before that, he kind of hit it a little bit of everywhere and would scramble to make birdie, scramble to make par.
“And it was kind of that similarity of hitting bad shots — but his second shot to a bad shot was much better than everybody else's. You could get that feel of, ‘I could hit that ball, but I couldn't do what he did after that.' So that's what I enjoyed about his game.”
Last month, Reaves made his professional golf debut, carding a 76 in a Korn Ferry Tour qualifier event. Ahead of his debut in the star-studded ACC — won in memorable fashion by Steph Curry in 2023 — Reaves is leaning into his inexperience.
“Kind of my whole life I've been behind the 8-ball to start with,” he said. “If y'all know my basketball story. I didn't have many offers coming out of high school. Then went undrafted. I've been kind behind the 8-ball, had to fight the whole way.
“So I don't think it's really going to be anything different this week. I'm just going to try to stay focused and play good golf.
As for who can claim the label of the NBA's best golfer between him and Steph?
“I haven't spoken to him about that personally but I'm sure he would pick himself as well,” said Reaves. “I saw him play golf here last year. He's a phenomenal player. I don't know what a competitor would be if you didn't take yourself.”
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