The Los Angeles Lakers have had a strong first quarter of the 2025 NBA season, currently sitting at 17-6 ahead of Wednesday night's NBA Cup knockout game vs the San Antonio Spurs. It's been a particularly impressive opening act for Austin Reaves, who is averaging north of 28 points per game, more than making up for LeBron James' extended absence to open up the season.
Recently, James' agent Rich Paul and sports analyst Max Kellerman discussed what Reaves' ideal role would look like on a competitive team.
“Ideally, Austin Reaves…is Ginobili. In an ideal world…” said Kellerman, per Silver Screen and Roll, via the “Game Over” podcast (per Hoopshype).
Paul: “On a championship team?” wondered Paul.
“On a championship team, he’s the killer sixth man,” clarified Kellerman.
“Yeah,” Paul agreed.
Lakers fans might need some time to warm up to the idea of Austin Reaves in a sixth man role considering the way he has been balling so far this season, although there have been some major concerns about the tenability on defense of a backcourt featuring himself and Luka Doncic. While the results have been good so far this year, last year's playoffs against the Minnesota Timberwolves certainly raised some major question marks about whether Reaves and Doncic can provide enough resistance on the perimeter defensively.
Still, for now, the Lakers are humming along with Reaves in the starting lineup, getting off to a better start than most pundits expected, and that's expected to only accelerate now that James is back in the lineup.
It remains to be seen whether Rob Pelinka and company will look to swing a trade for another defensive-minded player ahead of the deadline, but for now, Los Angeles is sitting pretty.
The Lakers will next take the floor on Wednesday evening against the Spurs at 10:00 pm ET, with the winner moving on to Las Vegas.
