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Austin Reaves Sends Clear LeBron James Message Ahead of Historic 23rd Season

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Jackson Stone | Last updated Oct 3, 2025 3:29 PM ET

The Los Angeles Lakers are less than three weeks away from kicking off the 2025-26 season, which will be superstar LeBron James' 23rd in the NBA. James is back with the Lakers after signing a $52.6 million player option with the team this summer and will be running things back with Luka Doncic, who inked a three-year, $165 million extension to stay in Los Angeles.

At this point, anything James does is widely viewed to be icing on the cake of his illustrious career, which has included four NBA championships and four NBA Finals MVP trophies, along with four regular-season MVP awards to boot.

Recently, Lakers guard Austin Reaves stopped by the "Young Man and the Three" podcast to drop a bold claim about James' place in the NBA history books.

Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves (15)© Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

"In my opinion, he's the best player to ever touch a basketball. He probably could have retired six years ago and people would still say the same thing," said Reaves, per Hoopshype. "...The only reason he's still playing basketball, it’s because he loves the grind. He loves the game. He wants to continue to get better. Even when, you know, you're at that level, there's still things that he thinks he can work on to become a better player."

James has indeed been known for his legendary work ethic throughout the course of his Hall of Fame career, spending millions of dollars per year to keep his body in peak shape even at the age of 40.

Meanwhile, the Lakers are hoping the trio of James, Doncic and Reaves is a good enough "big three" to keep pace in the crowded Western Conference despite a relatively small amount of depth on their bench. Perhaps the buyout market additions of Marcus Smart and Deandre Ayton will end up paying more dividends than some skeptics expect.

The Lakers are set to kick off their 2025-26 season with a home game against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 21.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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