Coming off a sensational second season in the NBA, Los Angeles Lakers guard Austin Reaves is drawing praise from all corners of the league.
He recently secured a new four-year contract worth more than $50 million, and some feel the All-Star team could be in his near future.
The other day, teammate D’Angelo Russell went on “The Pat Bev Pod” and called Reaves a “killer,” a sentiment that Patrick Beverley agreed with. Now former teammate Thomas Bryant has said something similar about the undrafted Arkansas native while on the “Buckets” podcast.
Via Lakers Nation:
“Skilled killer. It’s crazy because people just now seeing what Austin can do. Put it on the floor, shoot that thing and everything, get to his spots and get to the rim but I’ve seen that throughout the whole time and throughout the summer playing with him and against him. I was like, ‘Yo, Austin’s nice. A-R’s nice, man, he can play.’ I’m generally happy for him because he just getting to showcase what he do and that’s just very happy for me to just see one of my boys just do it, man.”
In fact, Bryant told a story about how Reaves responded to some opponents who tried to rough him up during a game.
“Oh yeah, they tried to rough him up one time when we playing in the summertime. They tried to foul him a few times and they was talking to him and he was talking back at ’em. He was like, ‘Nah, I’m about that. I’m about this. Stop playing with me, I can get down with it.’ And he went out there and did it, too. I was like, ‘Yeah, come on now. A-R’s straight.’”
Reaves has become one of the league’s feel-good stories after coming from humble beginnings, and he’s just getting started.