Austin Reaves rising to challenges in Lakers’ playoff push

LOS ANGELES (AP) — When the Los Angeles Lakersreached the final minutes of a tight game they desperately neededto win, the player with the ball in his hands on every possessionSunday night wasn’t one of their superstars, but an undraftedsecond-year reserve guard who has made a career out of surpassingexpectations.

Austin Reaves took over, scoring the Lakers’ last 10 pointsduring the final 93 seconds of a 111-105 win over the Orlando Magicthat breathed life into Los Angeles’ flickering playoff hopes whileLeBron James is out with a foot injury.

Reaves ended up with a career-high 35 points, and Lakers fansserenaded him with chants of “M-V-P! M-V-P!” each time he steppedto the free-throw line down the stretch.

“It’s special,” Reaves said. “I grew up a Lakers fan, so to doit for this organization especially is surreal. Sometimes I’ve gotto stop and really think about what I am doing. Obviously, I thinkall the odds were stacked against me from where I’m from.”

Reaves has become something more than another interesting findby the Lakers’ scouting department: The unsung prospect from ruralArkansas who played more baseball than basketball growing up is nowa versatile, vital part of Los Angeles’ rotation. He’s in line fora huge pay raise in free agency this summer — after he helps theLakers into the playoffs, he hopes.

“He carried us tonight with his play,” Anthony Davis said afterReaves added six rebounds and six assists while hitting nine of his14 shots against Orlando. “He got whatever he wanted,pick-and-rolls, 3s, got to the line 18 times. We know what we havein Austin. We’re very confident in him.”

Reaves became only the seventh player in franchise history toscore at least 35 points in a reserve role, but the way he got hispoints was particularly impressive. Driving to the hoop andshooting with confidence, he also repeatedly baited the Magic intofouls and then made 16 of his 18 free throws, both careerhighs.

“He gets a lot of those calls,” Davis said. “Me and Bron jokeabout it, like, ‘Man, we wish we could get some of those.’ As aguard, he’s able to — I don’t want to say manipulate the game — butto see how the game is being called and use it to his advantage,like guys who get a lot of free throws.”

Reaves said he has studied how James Harden and Trae Young drawfouls and attempted to incorporate their strategies into his game.Between his penchant for getting fouled and his physical approachon defense, Reaves regularly ends up moderately bloodied or bruisedafter games.

Reaves sees it as a way to help the Lakers without relying onsuperior strength or world-class speed. Lakers coach Darvin Hamcalls him a daredevil, while James describes him as fearless.

“I’ve said many times I’m not the most athletic person in theworld,” Reaves said. “I’m not the best at anything, but I think I’mreally good at a lot of things.”

Reaves jokes about his limited athletic ability, yet he would bethe most athletic person in almost any room in the world — exceptthe room where he spends most of his life.

And basketball is in his blood: Both of his parents wereaccomplished players at Arkansas State, his mother a high-scoring6-footer and his father a playmaking guard. He grew up idolizingKobe Bryant, his grandmother’s favorite player.

He was modestly recruited out of high school, and he headed tothe pros after five years in college at Wichita State and Oklahoma.He started out on a two-way contract with the Lakers last seasonbut played his way into a firm NBA role as a rookie.

Reaves will be a restricted free agent this summer, and Lakersfans are already fretting about his future two years after theylost Alex Caruso, another undrafted find who played his way into amajor role on the 2020 championship team. Los Angeles allowedCaruso to leave for Chicago apparently to avoid adding to itsluxury tax bill, even though Caruso said he would have given adiscount to stay.

The Lakers can match any contract offer given to Reaves, andit’s clear how their superstars feel about him: James cheered forReaves’ big finish from the bench before tweeting about Reavespostgame: “You toooooo TOUGH!!”

Reaves smiled when he was shown the tweet, briefly looking likea star-struck Lakers fan once again.

“I felt like there was a really good chemistry IQ-wise from dayone,” Reaves said of his bond with James. “Stuff like that (tweet)means a lot to me. Looking back in 20 years when I’m hopefullyretired, playing golf every day, I can tell my kids, mygrandkids.”