With LeBron James out over the past several weeks for the Los Angeles Lakers, Austin Reaves has picked up the slack in a major way. King James had nothing but praise for the youngster after his recent 35-point eruption to key yet another LA victory.

Perhaps the increased level of LeBron-Reaves searches yielded some fans to go digging into some old posts, which unearthed some rather anti-James sentiments that the 24-year-old used to proudly share.

There was this post from over a decade ago clowning LeBron James for then being ringless using a shrugging picture of Lakers icon Kobe Bryant. James was just two months away from winning his first ever ring with the Miami Heat.

Then there was this comment exchange likely from late 2011 as LeBron's Miami Heat took on Dirk Nowitzki's Dallas Mavericks in the NBA Finals. Reaves claimed Dirk was “too much” for LeBron, which truly was the case as the Mavs went on to win the series in six games.

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He also brandished the typical Lakers fan take holding Kobe Bryant in higher regard over LeBron James. Who would have predicted that James not only would win a ring with LA down the line, but that he would eventually be tweeting about how good Austin Reaves is at basketball?

Safe to say Austin Reaves probably doesn't feel the same way about LeBron James if you asked him about it today. The man branded as “Hillbilly Kobe” has clearly earned the respect of the Lakers frontman and fans alike.