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Austin Reaves enjoyed a breakout 2022-23 campaign with the Los Angeles Lakers, and ended up turning that into a four-year, $56 million contract with the Lakers that he signed this offseason. Reaves quickly became an extremely valuable piece of Darvin Ham's rotation, and will be tasked with helping LeBron James and Anthony Davis find their way back to the NBA Finals next season.
While Reaves was effective during the regular season, he took his game to another level in the playoffs (16.9 PPG, 4.6 APG, 4.4 RPG, 46.4 FG%, 44.3 3P%) and was a big reason why the Lakers ended up making it all the way to the Western Conference Finals. Ham thinks Reaves is only just beginning to crack the surface of his potential, and made a bold All-Star prediction now that he is back with the Lakers.
"I'm putting it on record right now: Austin Reaves will be an All-Star at some point soon." — Lakers coach Darvin Ham to @ChrisBHaynes and me on Part II of his #thisleague UNCUT visit.
The rest of the pod from @CaesarsPalace just dropped … listen here: https://t.co/ut3VdzUupi
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 13, 2023
Being an All-Star in the NBA is a lot easier said than done, as there are only so many spots to hand out to the top players in the league. Making matters harder for Reaves is that he also plays alongside a pair of perennial All-Stars in James and Davis. However, if he can improve upon his play in the playoffs, Ham may have a point here.
Reaves would need to make another big leap forward when it comes to his overall play, but based on what we saw in the playoffs, it's not out of the picture to suggest that could happen. With his place in the Lakers rotation secure, and a big-money contract with his name on it, Reaves will be looking to improve again next season, and if he can, he may be able to help the Lakers get back to the Finals, in addition to potentially finding his way to the All-Star Game.
