Many experts believe Austin Reaves has the potential to be the most impactful player for the Los Angeles Lakers next season. The 17-time champions have got the experience of LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The Lakers Nation feels the James-Davis duo must stay healthy and play as many games as possible. They have not been able to play more than 60 games in a season for three years in a row.
Anthony Davis has been very injury-prone, and LeBron James is sustaining frequent injuries due to his age. However, the Lakers have added reinforcements to take some workload off the James-Davis duo. The 17-time champions acquired big center Christian Wood so that AD finds it easier to manage his workload. Not just fans and experts but the three-year guard Austin Reaves, too, believes his team has the most skilled roster in the entire league.
Austin Reaves Believes Lakers Have The Most Talented Roster In The League
Recently, in an interview with The Lowe Post podcast, Reaves said that from top to bottom, the Lakers have the most talented roster this season. Moreover, the Lakers have tried their best to maintain the same core from the previous season. They have retained Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura, D’Angelo Russell, and Jarred Vanderbilt. But the Lakers also added new names like Cam Reddish, Taurean Prince, and Gabe Vincent. Hence, the Lakers have pretty much sorted out a deep and balanced roster. That’s the reason why many fans and experts currently claim that the Lakers are the top favorite to win the title next season.
Clearly, Austin Reaves can become an All-Star player if he maintains a triple-double average in the 2023-24 season. Moreover, he certainly showed a lot of promise in the previous two seasons for the Lakers. On top of that, the Arkansas native impressed everybody with his consistency as well as tremendous basketball IQ. Moreover, the Oklahoma Sooners kid raised his value so much that the Lakers almost lost him in the offseason to teams like the San Antonio Spurs and Houston Rockets. He deserved a $90 million contract, but that the Lakers could not afford. On the other hand, the Spurs and the Rockets could offer such a contract to Austin Reaves. But these teams backed out because the Lakers had Austin Reaves as a restricted free agent.
Spurs Almost Got AR In The Offseason
However, the Hilbilly Kobe almost signed with the Spurs to pair opposite Victor Wembanyama. Austin Reaves told Zach Lowe that the Spurs gave him a lot of attention. Moreover, Reaves was even getting curious about what the world would look like if he played alongside Victor Wembanyama. But Austin Reaves had faith in the LA Lakers that would match any offers these teams would make.
The idea of playing alongside is also pretty exciting, Reaves believes. Albeit, the Hilbilly Kobe wants to win a title with the 17-time champions. After the Lakers resigned him, AR posted his reaction on social media, saying, “Lakers Forever.” He has always been a big Kobe Bryant and Lakers fan. Hence, the Lakers are very close to AR’s heart.
