Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves. Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Austin Reaves and Darvin Ham could be on a collision course

By Adam Taylor | Last updated 1/1/24

According to Anthony Irwin of the "Lakers Lounge podcast," Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham could be on a collision course with Austin Reaves. The reported disagreement is due to Ham being lower on Reaves' ability than you would expect.

“This possible thing between [Reaves] and Ham is … something. I’m here to tell you, I’ve heard it very clearly, that for whatever reason, Ham doesn’t mess with Austin the way that you would think he would,’ Irwin said. “It needs to get fixed. This might escalate all the way to where an agent gets involved or the front office gets involved and people start asking what is going into these decisions?”

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Reaves emerged as a potential third star for the Lakers during last season's NBA Playoffs. His aggression and ability to plug gaps made him the ideal tertiary guy behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis.

However, earlier this season, Ham moved Reaves out of the starting lineup. At the time, Ham shared his vision of Reaves becoming a Manu Ginobili-type performer for the Purple and Gold.

Since moving to the bench, Reaves has been averaging 13.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists, shooting 49.3% from the field and 38.8% from three-point range.

As such, it would appear Ham's vision of Reaves becoming a high-level bench contributor is proving to be a reasonable hunch. Yet, things aren't always what they seem.

Reaves' minutes have steadily been trending down since D'Angelo Russell was moved to the bench. There's an additional guard for Reaves to contend with, and it would appear his playing time is being diminished as a result.

Considering he was one of the most impactful players for the Lakers last season and has been performing well this year, the decision to marginalize him is certainly questionable.

It's hard to envision why Ham would have an issue with Reaves. He's accepted his new role and is making a viable impact. However, there could be pressure from other areas of the franchise to give the fan-favorite a bigger role, especially if he has voiced concerns behind the scenes. Ham has struggled to get the best out of his Lakers team this season.

Falling out with a core member of the rotation would certainly put him in an unenviable situation. Lakers fans will likely be hoping the situation doesn't worsen so that their team can continue building toward what they hope is a deep postseason run.

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