SEPTEMBER 27: The Lakers have officially confirmed Reaves’ new contract.
SEPTEMBER 26: The Lakers are planning to sign guard Austin Reaves to a two-year contract, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). The second year of the agreement contains a team option, Charania reports, and Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times notes the first season is partially guaranteed.
Reaves, 23, had been on a two-way contract with the club, so his new deal represents a promotion to the standard roster, putting him in line to be the 14th man on the regular season squad.
Charania notes that the Lakers view Reaves in a similar mold to guards Talen Horton-Tucker and Alex Caruso, two players they managed to successfully develop in recent seasons.
Reaves went unselected in the 2021 NBA Draft. He spent two collegiate seasons at Wichita State, then two more at Oklahoma, averaging 18.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 4.6 assists during his final year.
The Lakers, who have 17 players under contract, now have a two-way roster spot available to use.
Ok so what happen to getting a defensive wing player like James Ennis lll?
Ennis isn’t a good defender. Theres a reason he remains unsigned
Who told you ennis was a defensive player? Lol.
If you look up any of his information it will tell you that he’s a 3 & D wing. However I’m a believer that if he didn’t impress the Lakers then that’s on him. Also it could be the reason that he’s been on about 6 different teams in about 5 years inconsistent and work ethic!!
Also, Reaves went to Oklahoma…?
After Wich St
This one caught me off guard. Hopefully it works in LA favor. Can’t see him getting much playing time anyway. Go Lakers
I really liked this guy in summer league. Played hard, moved well without the ball, defended adequately, was in the right spots, could also put the ball on the floor a little, and he could obviously shoot. Reminded me a bit of Max Strus and a couple of others
They needed another piece at those positions, although I thought they would go with a couple of other remaining options, and still maybe retain him, either on a 2 way deal, or in that last roster spot. The 2 years is something to note, as they’ll only have early bird rights on him after that, instead of full bird rights, but if they rarely use him, that might not matter…although I would expect to see him get some opportunities, as he is the type of player I can see LeBron taking a liking to
Based on his nba summer league stint, observations such as above-avg basketball IQ, decent D, nice outside perimeter shooting, these i think led to his 2 year signing!
Before I lost my list to some unfortunate technical issues, and then got deflated and havent felt like going back yet (although I pretty much have to now that training camp is starting already), he was 1 of the first guys I noticed, since they played those extra games in Sacramento before vegas. I dont remember too much, but he was definitely a name I remembered for the reasons I mentioned. I had some other comparisons, but cant remember them as well without watching again, but he is the type of player I think will translate. He was decently deceptively athletic as well. They still need 3 and D help on the wing, but I think he will be a nice undrafted find