Where Did LeBron James and Anthony Davis Find Austin Reaves Before Recruiting Him at the Lakers?

Austin Reaves arrived in the league as a lowly recruited player. He wasn’t drafted in 2021 despite an impressive college career. Therefore, it was a surprise when the LA Lakers gave a contract to an undrafted free agent. This has been one of the best decisions that the Franchise has made in recent years. It speaks volumes to their scouting team, which has churned some terrific talent since the 2010s.

How did the Guard make it this far? It begins with what LeBron James and Anthony Davis witnessed. It has been a stellar rise.

The rise and rise of Austin Reaves

During his 2020 NCAA season as a red-shirt junior (meaning, he didn’t play the preceding season), the Guard averaged an impressive 14.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and three assists a game. This season showed his promise when he put up 41 points including a game-winner in a 19-point comeback against TCU.

In his senior year, he put up 18.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.1 assists per game. He earned the First Team All Big-12 honors, which shot up his value. However, this wasn’t enough to keep an NBA team interested. Fast Forward, the Guard is leading Team USA during the FIBA World Cup.

The Athletic NBA’s podcast contributor Andrew K. Schlecht tells his experience of watching Reaves during Team USA training camp. He says his selection over Trae Young “raised some eyebrows”, a notion he understands.

But when he watched him against USA’s top players like Mikal Bridges, Anthony Edwards, Brandon Ingram, and Jalen Brunson, he says that the Lakers Guard was “holding his own against those guys and scoring against them, and getting stops against them. Doing the same things that he did in Lakers training camp that got him on the team”.

He then recalled the events during the 2021 Lakers training camp that caught the attention of LBJ and AD.

Austin Reaves impresses LeBron James and Anthony Davis

Andrew K. Schlecht then dives into the origin story of Reaves. He goes on, “He was a two-way guy, goes to Las Vegas for a players-only minicamp that LeBron James is leading. He played so well that LeBron and AD were just like this guy has to be on the team. The Lakers were playing and carrying 14 guys into the Regular Season”. 

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Going further, he says, “After LeBron and AD spoke to the management, it’s like this guy has to be like our 15th player, we cannot just have him on a two-way. So Austin made the team and from there on, he has taken off”.

This story showcases that King James and The Brow both backed the rising star since he showed up at the Lakers’ shores.

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