Wednesday night marked Luka Doncic's third consecutive absence for the Los Angeles Lakers as he continues to deal with a finger and leg injury. LeBron James has been out all season thus far and is weeks away from returning, as per reports. But Austin Reaves is surely thinking that he's got this. Reaves, who's been on a tear as of late, added another feather to his cap — a game-winner against the Minnesota Timberwolves to avoid what would have been a catastrophic collapse and secure a 116-115 win.
Reaves is coming off games with 51 and 41 points, respectively, but he didn't shoot the ball quite as well against the Timberwolves' defense. Nonetheless, he made a shot when it mattered the most — a floater over the outstretched arms of Donte DiVincenzo right at the buzzer.
And in so doing, the burgeoning Lakers star titillated his Purple and Gold co-stars — with James going NSFW with his reaction to Reaves' game-winner and Doncic dropping one emoji to express how he thinks of the 27-year-old guard.
“A-MUTHAF**KIN-R!!!!!!!!!!!!!” James wrote on his official account on X (formerly Twitter).
“🐐,” Doncic added.
Those two reactions are the best encapsulations of how well Reaves has been playing at the moment. Any other team would have crumbled if they were missing players of James and Doncic's caliber at the same time. But Reaves is an incredible player in his own right and he's showing how capable he is of running the show.
Even though Reaves had his tough moments shooting the basketball on Wednesday, going just 9-24 from the field and 3-11 from beyond the arc, he made so many things happen for the Lakers on offense by dropping 16 dimes — tying a career-best.
The world is Reaves' oyster at the moment, as James and Doncic's ability to carry undermanned teams appears to have rubbed off on him quite well.
Austin Reaves, Lakers avoid disaster against the Timberwolves
The Lakers led the Timberwolves by as many as 20 points, which was quite a feat for this shorthanded squad on the road. But the Timberwolves cut into that lead bit by bit until they took the lead with only a few seconds left in the game, with Julius Randle making the go-ahead layup to put them up by one, 115-114.
But Reaves, thanks to an excellent play call from the Lakers, managed to get them across the finish line as the victor. They brought up Rudy Gobert to cover the screen and roll, which freed up the paint for Reaves' game-winner.
