One thing he’s never missing is confidence
Lakers’ Reaves prides himself on being fearless, so slump didn’t stop him.
Teammates kept finding him, and Austin Reaves, a player committed to making the right play, had to keep doing the right thing — shoot.
It happened and happened and happened again — 13 times, a big number for a player who has attempted more shots only twice in 96 career games.
And, on Friday night with the Lakers in a tight game against the Hawks in Atlanta, Reaves made only one of them.
“I went back and watched all my shots, and the majority of them were good shots,” he said Monday. “Unfortunately, they didn’t go in. But it wasn’t like I was taking shots and going to the bench and the coaching staff and players are like, ‘Why are you shooting that?’ ”
The Lakers, already starved for shooters, can’t afford to let one of their best get bogged down in a slump.
Reaves missed all five of his shots against Miami before going one for 13 against the Hawks. But in his two seasons in the NBA, he’s earned a great deal of trust from his coach and teammates, the kind of thing that helps a young player turn the page.
Monday night at Charlotte, Reaves made five of seven shots, including both of his three-pointers, as he scored 15 points in the Lakers’ 121-115 win.
“At the end of the day, you never get too high or too low. Especially when you put the work in,” Lakers star LeBron James said Monday night. “You just always have another opportunity a couple days later, maybe a day later, maybe a week later to be able to change the narrative of maybe yourself.
“Obviously [Austin] could have played a lot better, and there were a couple games where he didn’t play to his ability, to his own personal abilities.
“Tonight was the complete opposite. We needed everything from him. He’s such a big part of our team.”
Reaves’ one-for-13 shooting night was one of the worst in the NBA this season.
Charlotte’s P.J. Washington had a scoreless 0-for-13 night at the start of December. Chicago star Zach LaVine went one for 14 on Nov. 18. And Toronto’s Gary Trent Jr., like Reaves, had a one-for-13 game Nov. 12.
Among those players, Reaves’ nine three-point attempts were the most.
“He’s a hooper, man,” Lakers coach Darvin Ham said before the Charlotte game. “I don’t think his confidence wavers. He was having a rough night and still got 13 shots up, so . ... And I welcome all of them — except a couple, maybe. … But that’s my little daredevil, as I call him. He’s just fearless in the fact that he’s going to attack the game with a lot of aggression on both sides of the ball. He’s going to compete at the highest level. So, he’ll get through it.
“I expect him to snap out of it pretty quick. He’s another one that works his tail off with his package and where he’s going to get his shots, how he’s going to get his shots. I have all the confidence in the world.”
A free agent at the end of the season, Reaves is in line for a nice payday after going from undrafted rookie to rotation player to invaluable contributor in what’s felt like a blink.
“He was an undrafted guy. So he had to earn his stripes,” James said. “He didn’t think he was gonna be thrown into the rotation when he was thrown into the rotation — and not only thrown into the rotation, he became a huge part of our rotation. And then he became someone we trusted to the point where he hit a game-winner in Dallas.
“And now he’s a staple of everything that we do.”
Reaves, outwardly, took the slump in stride while internally he seethed.
“Everybody goes through these games. You just gotta look forward. I mean, if you dwell on it, you’re gonna kinda stick on that energy that [it] brings when you’re not playing well,” Reaves said. “I was actually talking to [assistant coach] Phil Handy this morning, and he was talking about energy and mindset and controlling that type of part of it. Because I’ve been, like I said, super frustrated the last four days. And his big message to me was just: ‘Let it all go. Go back to being who you are: joking around, messing around, having a good time. And things will happen.’ ”
Just before halftime Monday, Reaves stepped in front of a pass for a quick steal and a jumper at the buzzer, the kind of play that combines his smarts and skill.
He was back to being who he is.