2023-05-01 22:58:37
The guard, who grew up on a farm in Arkansas, shines in the playoffs with the Lakers. “My mentality is to silence all those who doubt me,” he says
In one of the last challenges of his endless career, LeBron James He has found an unlikely ally. A guy determined to bargain for his own destiny, to park his natural path to Europe – the same one that his brother travels Spencer, now in the Germany of his ancestors, who came to play in Burgos- to fulfill his dream of succeeding in the NBA. He pure commitment and self-confidence. In these Lakers that as of today challenge the Warriors for a spot in the Western Conference Final, only LeBron himself plays more than Austin Reaves. “Sometimes I need to stop and reflect on what I’m doing. Everything was against me,” says one of the Staples favorites.
In the first playoff game of his career, a few days ago, Reaves decided the away game against the Grizzlies with 13 points (of his 24) in the fourth quarter. His fanfare at the FedEx Forum showed a player without any complexes. “I don’t give a damn about athleticism, how well you can shoot, how high you can jump, how fast you can run. I like guys with high basketball IQs. Obviously, you have to have them to win a championship. Players who can do extraordinary things”, LeBron himself surrendered to a white guard with shaggy hair, no tattoos and not too muscular.
A player who hadn’t been drafted just a couple of summers before. The Lakers signed him to a dual contract with the idea of him trying out for their development team in the G-League. But, in the midst of a plague of injuries, his opportunity came after the All Star. And he did not miss it: in the Lakers’ last 11 regular season games (nine wins), Reaves averaged 19.8 points and 6.1 assists with 58% of field goals.
Reaves’ father and mother played basketball –Nicole Wilkett he averaged 21.3 points at Arkansas State University, but the sport Austin was enthralled with as a child was baseball. He practiced it so much in his native Newark, a small town in rural Arkansas (he grew up on a farm), that he came to loathe it. And then, despite the fact that his physique was not very good, he opted for the orange ball. First at his institute, Cedar Ridge, where he already signed a 73-point game. In his last season he went to 32.5 points, 8.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists per night and Wichita State offered him a scholarship.
But there things did not work out and he opted for the change to Oklahoma, where he broke out again. But, then, again the prejudices. “It has always been my mentality: silence all those who doubt me,” he has come to pronounce, far from that 2021 draft. Instead of Europe, he insisted on his agent to fight for an opportunity with a dual contract in the NBA . And he came to him in the Lakers, the team he was a fan of since he was a child. In fact, since his university stage he has carried the nickname of Hillbilly Kobe (he Kobe of town or paleto).
“He’s a killer”
He was the General Manager Rob Pelinka the one who wanted to glimpse some potential in Austin: in his first season, last, he already participated in 61 games for those in purple and gold. “All my life I have been the thinnest, someone not athletic enough and even not very skilled. Everyone found excuses not to value me. It was always something like we are going to find something that I cannot do so that I do not get it, “he acknowledged. in the LA Times in those days of vindication. “There is a lot of dog in him, he fits very well with us,” LeBron already advanced.
But it has been at this moment of truth, in the Rubicon of the play-in, where Reaves has become the Alex Caruso of 2020, with which he is compared so much. In six playoff games against the Grizzlies, all starting, he has averaged almost 37 minutes and shares scoring responsibility (16.5 points) with LeBron, Anthony Davis y D’Angelo Russell. With the point guard, he also forms an excellent couple off the courts, both of whom are golf fans. “In the NBA, you see a white guy and he’s usually the shooter and he can’t defend anybody. Austin has a little bit of everything. And he’s a killer. When he gets hot there’s no holding him back,” his friend praised.
Austin’s present now goes through the duel on the perimeter against Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, but soon the Lakers will have to resolve the future of their revelation player. And, despite the wishes of both, continuity will not be cheap. Free agent, juicy offers from other franchises will not wait (there is talk of amounts that can be around 100 million for four seasons). And the Los Angeles team, with a preferential option over him, will have no choice but to match them.
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