Austin Reaves has been living the dream throughout his NBA career thus far with the Los Angeles Lakers, as he’s gone from an undrafted rookie to a household name with his own signature shoes. Reaves has defied the odds up to this point in his basketball career, and he has no intention of stopping his pursuit of an NBA title.
Unfortunately, the 2023-24 NBA season didn’t end the way Reaves or the Lakers wanted it to, with the team getting bounced in the first round of the NBA Playoffs to the defending NBA champion Denver Nuggets, who also beat them in the postseason last year.
Although Reaves still has a bright future ahead, he was clearly frustrated after the Nuggets took them out in five games in the first round. It wasn’t just the first-round exit that bothered Reaves, but the season as a whole, starting with his benching earlier in the year.
“Like you said, it was a long year,” Reaves said. “Making the run to the Western Conference Finals and then playing for the USA team in the FIBA stuff and then diving right back into it after that. There was a lot of ups and downs this year, and one thing I’ll say about myself is I never give up.
“Before game 15 this year, I was moved to the bench. So there was a lot of things that happened this year that you had to be mentally tough to get through. You got to fight your way through it, and that’s one thing I’ll give myself credit for is I never faulted. I never felt sorry for myself. Obviously, there’s frustrations, but I woke up every single day and went to work and tried to get better and tried to help our team win. That’s all I care about is winning. Obviously, there’s things I can always do better to help us win, but every single night I go out there on the court, that’s my main goal is to win, and at the end of this year, obviously today, I can say that’s what I did.”
With the Lakers seemingly intent on going after Trae Young or Donovan Mitchell on the trade market this summer, there’s a chance that Reaves has played his last game as a Laker, as he’ll be the most attractive trade piece on the team.
That said, Reaves’ frustrations may carry over into the offseason with his future with the team being uncertain, as he’ll almost certainly be mentioned constantly in trade rumors.
Although he wasn’t much of a game-changer for the Lakers throughout his first season with the team, Christian Wood did have some good moments this past season playing for his hometown team.
With Wood’s season coming to an end much earlier than anticipated due to injury, he vows to get back healthy and seems intent on staying with the Lakers moving forward.