Erik Spoelstra: Austin Reaves Is Winning Player

Over the years, Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves has worked to improve his game, going from an undrafted free agent to an All-Star-caliber talent who has garnered respect and admiration from players and coaches across the league.

Reaves played for Team USA in the summer of 2023, where he got to play for some of the best coaches in the league like Steve Kerr, Ty Lue and Erik Spoelstra. Now three years later, Lue recently spoke about the growth Reaves has shown, and Spoelstra also praised him for being a winning player.

“He’s a competitor,” Spoelstra said of Reaves before the Lakers’ win over the Miami Heat on Monday night. “I think first and foremost, you have to point to that. He has high skill level offensively, but he competes on both sides of the floor. He’s a winning player. You hear that a lot about certain guys and I don’t know if there’s a specific definition to a winning player, but when you coach somebody, you can spot a winning player. Who is doing the intangibles? Who made tough plays? And you can’t ever relax with him, I know that.

“He had that quality with USA. I was really impressed with him. I really enjoyed the opportunity to be part of that staff to coach him. And I’m not surprised by the success that he’s had, and then he continues to get better, right? He’s got a great work ethic. Winning players usually get better.”

Reaves has improved in each of his six NBA seasons and earned a near-max contract with the Lakers this past offseason as a result. It’s a great story to see the Arkansas native go from undrafted to $180 million contract, but with that also comes higher expectations.

So far, Reaves has proved he is up for the challenge, averaging 23.6 points and 5.1 assists on 53.9% shooting and 44.4% from 3-point range in eight games. After a couple of rough games, Reaves bounced back against Spoelstra’s Heat with 27 points and five assists on 10-of-15 shooting.

Austin Reaves happy to play with Walker Kessler

One other member of that 2023 USA team was center Walker Kessler, who was the Lakers’ big offseason acquisition. And so far, Reaves has enjoyed playing with the big man again.

“Yeah, he’s been great. It’s fun to watch,” Reaves said after the Lakers’ victory over the Heat. “Glad to have him on our team, and he’s gonna continue to get better every single game. But he’s been massive for us this whole year.”