The Los Angeles Lakers made some big moves during the February trade deadline and so far, these have paid major dividends for the squad. As much as they brought in a number of key additions to the squad, the front office also offloaded some players that just didn't fit with what the squad was trying to do this season. Yes, we're looking at you, Russell Westbrook.
This is exactly the type of mindset Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka took on during the trade deadline. He also had one specific player in mind when they made some key decisions up top, and that happens to be Austin Reaves. According to the high-ranking executive, Reaves' outlook with the squad was a key consideration in their mid-season dealings:
“The trade deadline isn't always what you bring in,” Pelinka said, via Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. “It opened up a lane for him [Reaves] to really get on ball a little bit more and kind of show some of the skills that might have been dormant when there were other players playing.
“[It was] definitely a consideration around Austin and how do we free up more — both time for him and then ability to make plays with the ball in his hand. Because the analytics show, he's highly effective.”
As Pelinka said, the numbers speak for themselves. Since the break, Austin Reaves has put up averages of 17.6 points on 57.8 percent shooting, 3.1 rebounds, and 5.5 assists in 30.4 minutes per game, while also connecting on 1.5 triples per contest on a 44.3-percent clip.
For his part, Reaves himself has been raving about the benefits of the Lakers' mid-season moves:
“I think the brand of basketball we played since the trade deadline, it's been really good,” Reaves said. “Everybody's been involved in the flow of the offense and then everybody's just making the extra pass. So it's easy, because you've got defenses scrambling.”
The Lakers will expect Reaves to be at his very best on Friday when they take on the Memphis Grizzlies in a potential series-clinching Game 6 matchup. Reaves has been great all season long, and they need him to keep his foot on the gas the rest of the way.
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