Austin Reaves may not have Luka Doncic’s star power, but inside the Lakers’ locker room, he’s apparently the louder voice.
That’s the takeaway from a report by The Athletic’s Dan Woike, who described Reaves as the team’s most vocal leader while noting that Doncic and LeBron James both lean more toward a quieter style. Woike said, per Reddit, “We're going on year two or so of Austin Reaves being the most vocal leader,” Woike said, per Reddit.
“Luka Dončić is pretty quiet, LeBron James is way more of a lead-by-example player. And even before the Luka deal, Reaves was the guy who had bridged the gap between the back of the bench, the team's stars, and the coaches.
He was the most approachable and has been a critical behind-the-scenes presence.”
That kind of presence matters for a Lakers team moving into a new chapter after James’ eight-year tenure. Reaves, who averaged a career-best 23.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 0.4 blocks alongside Doncic last season, also landed a four-year, $180 million extension over the summer.
Lakers coach JJ Redick has said Doncic could put together an MVP-caliber season, but the offense on the floor is only part of the equation. Reaves seems to have carved out a different sort of value: the player who can talk to everybody, from the bench to the stars.
Reaves also opened up about one of the trickier adjustments of sharing the court with Doncic. Speaking at Media Day, per ESPN’s Los Angeles, he pointed to the language barrier in live action.
“The hardest part [about playing with Luka] is to understand his English on the court,” Reaves said. “He gets talking fast, Slovenian, Serbian, speaks 4 languages. Sometimes I’m looking at him like, ‘talk to me in English, I need English.’”
The preseason may already be helping with that chemistry. The Lakers will host the Nuggets in their preseason finale on Friday.
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