Western Conference Executive Compares Lakers' Austin Reaves to Undrafted Hall of Famer

Embedded in the article is a critical quote, attribute to a Western Conference executive.

"He's the best undrafted player since Ben Wallace, and that guy's a Hall of Famer," that West exec told McMenamin.

Wallace, a 6-foot-9 center, went undrafted out of Virginia Union University in 1996. Across a 16-year playing career, the hyper-athletic pro was eventually a four-time All-Star, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, a six-time All-Defensive Teamer, and a one-time champion on the Detroit Pistons.

Two-time All-Star Brad Miller and one-time All-Star Fred VanVleet both went undrafted after Wallace. Five-time All-Star Connie Hawkins, one-time All-Star John Starks, All-Defensive Teamer Bruce Brown and three-time champion Udonis Haslem are among the other top notable undrafted names in league history — although among those, only Haslem went undrafted post-Wallace.

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Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka reveals that he values Reaves so much he strived to hold him out of any trade talks with the Dallas Mavericks when it came to acquiring Doncic.

"In the monthlong process of the Luka Doncic trade discussions, of course, you're thinking about the players you may possibly have to trade in a deal like that, AD and Max Christie," Pelinka said. "[But] one of the people I was thinking of the most in my head was just AR, because I knew how close he had gotten to Max and AD and I knew bringing in another primary ball handler would have implications for him."

Pelinka goes on to hail Reaves as a "basketball genius."

For his part, it appears Reaves' aw-shucks nature isn't sublimating his own self-confidence.

"I just want to win and I feel like anytime I'm on the court versus off the court, I have a belief I literally can change the game," Reaves told McMenamin.

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