Austin Reaves had enough going on Sunday night without the extra noise from the courtside seats.
In the second quarter of the Lakers’ 121-116 win over the Pistons at Little Caesars Arena, Reaves hit the floor after getting tangled up with Ron Holland II and ended up close to a group of fans. One of them immediately started jawing at him.
“Hey. You’re f*ing a,” the courtside fan said.
“What’s wrong with you?” Reaves responded.
“Swing on me,” the fan added.
The exchange spread fast online, and plenty of fans were quick to call out the heckler for what looked like a clear attempt to bait Reaves into something bigger.
“Lawsuit baiting,” @jason23lake said.
Reaves didn’t take the bait. He stayed composed, kept the moment from boiling over and then went right back to work.
With Luka Doncic sidelined, he carried the Lakers offensively and finished with 43 points, five rebounds and four assists. Twenty-four of those points came in the second half, helping Los Angeles stretch its winning streak to five games.
He also had one of those shots that makes you do a double take. Reaves buried a heavily contested three-pointer off the glass, and afterward he admitted the bank wasn’t planned at all.
“When I stepped back and shot it, I was like, ‘this is some bulls**t Luka would shoot’ and I didn’t try to bank it in. It went in, so it looks the same in the stat sheet,” Reaves said.
Doncic sat out Sunday, then returned to lead the Lakers the next night against the Hawks. Reaves was out for that one, and Doncic delivered a 32-point near triple-double in a 124-114 win for the Purple & Gold.
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