Austin Reaves’ eye-opening take on Lakers’ championship aspirations

LOS ANGELES – Following the Los Angeles Lakers’ 140-109 win against the Houston Rockets on Friday, they secured the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference heading into the playoffs. With the Lakers clinching a playoff spot outright, talk has shifted to whether or not this team can contend for a championship. After the win, Austin Reaves spoke about his belief in this Lakers team being able to win a championship.

“As a team, I feel like we can win a championship to be honest. And the reason for that is I know that everybody in that locker room believes that. And it’s also bought into whatever your role is to help us do that,” Reaves said. “You could go down the line of everybody in there and ask them what their role is and they’ll tell you exactly what it is. We’re not unrealistic with each other. And that’s what you have to be, to be a good group. You have to be honest with each other.”

In JJ Redick’s first season as head coach, he’s done what his predecessor Darvin Ham was unable to do, and that’s clinch an outright playoff spot. The past two seasons, in which Reaves was a part of, the Lakers had to go through the play-in to eventually make the postseason. They did manage to make a run to the Western Conference Finals though in 2023.

Reaves gives a lot of credit to Redick and the rest of the coaching staff for being able to instill that mentality in the locker room and to get everyone to buy in to the bigger picture.

“That’s why I give this coaching staff a lot of credit is that they came in and they planted their system,” Reaves said. “They held guys accountable to what they asked them to do. And everybody bought into that.”

Austin Reaves’ breakout season

Amid the Lakers’ strong close to the regular season and with momentum heading into the playoffs, Austin Reaves has been wading through a career year. Ever since the team handed him the keys as the starting point guard after the D’Angelo Russell trade, his numbers have that of an All-Star.

Reaves has appeared in 73 games this season at a little over 34 minutes per game. He’s been averaging 20.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.8 assists and 1.1 steals with splits of 46 percent shooting from the field, 37.7 percent shooting from the three-point line and 87.7 percent shooting from the free-throw line. He’s had a much more defined role as opposed to the past two seasons when he alternated between starting and coming off the bench.

For him, it’s just all about confidence and knowing that even through his not so good games, he’s still got the ability to turn it around.

“I’ve always had a weird, maybe a little bit of a delusional confidence in myself even when things aren’t going good,” Reaves said. “Obviously when I don’t play well, I know I don’t play well so I hold myself to the standard of being better. I just love the challenge of continuing to grow and get better. Like I said, even when I’m going through tough stretches, I still believe that I’m a decent player.”