{"id":734290,"date":"2026-06-13T15:46:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T15:46:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/734290\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T15:46:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T15:46:13","slug":"my-followers-went-from-60000-to-7-million-lakers-star-austin-reaves-reveals-the-lebron-james-effect-on-instagram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/734290\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018My Followers Went From 60,000 to 7 Million\u2019 \u2014 Lakers Star Austin Reaves Reveals the LeBron James Effect on Instagram"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the Los Angeles Lakers are in evaluation mode after a frustrating second-round playoff exit against the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>, Austin Reaves knows what the LeBron James effect looks like on social media.<\/p>\n

Long before the Lakers began navigating their offseason decisions, including the futures of Reaves and James, the 28-year-old recalled how his Instagram presence skyrocketed after the 4x champion posted a photo featuring him.<\/p>\n

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How a LeBron James Meme Skyrocketed Austin Reaves\u2019 Social Media Following<\/p>\n

In a resurfaced clip from a March episode of the \u201cMind the Game\u201d podcast with James and Steve Nash<\/a>, Reaves detailed the \u201cLeBron James effect\u201d on social media stardom.<\/p>\n

After a game against the Brooklyn Nets<\/a> in January 2022, James had shared an image featuring him explaining a play design to a wide-eyed Reaves.<\/p>\n

The impact was immediate, as Reaves\u2019 following increased drastically.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember he posted that after the game, and my followers went from like 60,000 to like 7 million,\u201d Reaves said on the podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, man,\u201d James laughed in response<\/a>. \u201cThe phone died fast as hell.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Reaves noted that he was completely unaware of the incoming traffic surge at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were in Philly. I was out eating and I picked up my phone and I just set it back down. I was like, \u2018I don\u2019t even know what\u2019s going on.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGoddamn, my bad. That was cool, though,\u201d James chimed in.<\/p>\n

The 7 million figure is a heavy exaggeration, as Reaves has roughly 1.5 million Instagram followers.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, the hyperbole just points to the spotlight that comes with sharing a locker room with James.<\/p>\n

SEE ALSO: \u2018All Are False\u2019 \u2013 Rich Paul Sets the Record Straight About Recent Reports On LeBron James\u2019 Lakers Future<\/a><\/p>\n

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James has over 150 million followers on the platform, placing him among the most influential figures in sports.<\/p>\n

Reaves, by contrast, was an undrafted free agent before the Lakers spotlight found him.<\/p>\n

Now, the franchise has to decide whether that development has been worth it.<\/p>\n

Reaves completed the most productive season of his professional career. He averaged 23.3 points, 5.5 assists, and 4.7 rebounds with an efficient 49.0% shooting before injuries derailed his (and the Lakers\u2019) campaign.<\/p>\n

According to Dan Woike of The Athletic<\/a>, Reaves could decline his upcoming player option to test free agency, with some teams reportedly keen to recruit him.<\/p>\n

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Meanwhile, James remains tight-lipped about his future with the team and the sport. The 41-year-old maintains that competing for championships is his sole motivation to continue playing.<\/p>\n

These sweeping offseason decisions will ultimately determine Luka Don\u010di\u0107<\/a>\u2019s Lakers\u2019 new look as they look to compete for a championship once again next season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While the Los Angeles Lakers are in evaluation mode after a frustrating second-round playoff exit against the Oklahoma…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,30097,63,5997,7896,7232,11473,590,5548,7185,85,54233],"class_list":["post-734290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-austin-reaves","tag-australia","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-lebron-james","tag-los-angeles-lakers","tag-luka-doncic","tag-nba","tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","tag-phoenix-suns","tag-sports","tag-steve-nash"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}